Qatar World Cup 2022: Messi's historic goal hands Argentina semis berth; supporters joyed

Qatar World Cup 2022: Argentina managed to eclipse the Netherlands on penalties in the quarterfinal on Friday, thus sealing its place in the semis. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi scored a historic goal, joying his supporters.

Former two-time champion Argentina clawed its way into the semis of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Playing European giants Netherlands in the quarterfinal at the Lusail Iconic Stadium on Friday, the former registered a cheeky success on penalties after a 2-2 draw, thanks to the goals from Nahuel Molina (35) and Lionel Messi (73). At the same time, Wout Weghorst (83 & 90+11) pulled off the equalisers for the latter as a substitute. Meanwhile, it was Messi's goal that was the most talked about, as he became the joint most goal scorer in the competition for the Albicelestes, joining Gabriel Batistuta with ten goals, and is now firmly in the driver's seat to get the record broken.

As for the contest, Molina's goal saw a crucial assist from Messi, while the latter scored his historic goal via a penalty after Denzel Dumfries brought down Marcos Acuna inside the box. However, Weghorst had other plans, as via Steven Berghuis's assist, he pulled one back in the 83rd, while another Teun Koopmeiners assist from a free-kick ensured that the match went into extra time.

In the shootout, Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis missed the opening two shots for Holland before Teun Koopmeiners, Weghorst and Luuk de Jong scored. However, for the Albicelestes, four kick-takers scored (Messi, Leandro Paredes, Gonzalo Montiel and Lautaro Martinez), while Enzo Fernández was the only one to miss, but enough to see his side through.

Considering the match stats, Argentina was the better side in terms of attack (14-6), while it had a couple of promising chances gone pegging, unlike the Netherlands. Although the latter was good in passing (530-499) and just fell into the off-side trap on an occasion, the former had lesser fouls committed (18-30), besides winning eight corners.

In some other stats:

• Messi has been fouled over 65 times in the WC, the second most after his late fellow Argentine Diego Maradona (152).
• Weghorst is the first Dutchman to score a couple in a WC game as a substitute.