Sanchita Chatterjee, BS News Agency: Today's match started with extreme disappointment. It is rare to see a football wizard like Lionel Messi miss such an easy opportunity. However, the Argentine captain did not let that regret last long. On the one hand, he shook off the disappointment of the penalty miss and scored a pair of goals, taking himself to a unique height, and on the other hand, he defeated Austria 2-0 and sent Argentina to the knockout stage of the World Cup with one match in hand. The world champions were in an aggressive mood from the start of the match. When Lautaro Martinez was fouled in the D-box in the third minute, the referee blew the penalty whistle with the help of VAR technology. Messi came to take the spot kick in the eighth minute. He was close to becoming the single highest scorer in the history of the World Cup. But Messi proved today that he is also a flesh-and-blood man. His shot went outside the goalpost. The rest of the first half was a tense and tense affair for Argentina. In the 21st minute, Messi's shot was blocked by Austrian defender Alaba, and in the 33rd minute, the Argentine magician failed to score a goal against the empty post.
However, in the 38th minute, the desired moment came. Messi himself attacked from the left and scored a brilliantly perfect shot from the edge of the penalty box. With this goal, he surpassed Miroslav Klose by scoring his 17th goal in the World Cup. Lionel Scaloni's team went into the break with a one-goal lead. Argentina became desperate to increase the gap in the second and final half.
In the 63rd minute, Fernandes' and Gonzalez's efforts in the 74th minute were blocked by the Austrian defense. When Gonzalez's header narrowly missed the target, the wait for the second goal began to get longer. In the 87th minute, another goal opportunity was created, but the Austrian defenders were unable to stop it. The final moment of the match came in the fifth minute of injury time. The ball from Alvarez's fast-paced counter-attack was saved by Austria's goalkeeper Schlager, but it was not saved. Messi received the ball back and beat Danso, who was standing on the goal line, in his second attempt and secured the victory. With this victory, world champion Argentina secured a ticket to the knockout stage. Argentina defeated Algeria 3-0 in the first match. Messi scored all three goals there. Argentina has scored a total of five goals in this World Cup. Messi scored five of them.