LUSAIL, Qatar (AP) — Lionel Messi and his teammates were on the pitch for 20 minutes, taking turns dancing and jumping in front of their cheering, scarf-waving fans.
Argentina was going to savor reaching the World Cup semifinals. Messi’s quest to win soccer’s top prize lives on.
Argentina beat the Netherlands 4-3 in a penalty shootout on Friday, with Messi converting his try and Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez making two saves.
After Lautaro Martínez scored the decisive penalty, Messi, arms outstretched, ran to jump into the arms of his goalkeeper.
“We had to suffer,” Messi said. “But we did it.”
The match ended 2–2 and was only taken to extra time after the Netherlands equalized in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time with the second of two goals from substitute Wout Weghorst.
Before that, Messi had set up Nahuel Molina’s opening goal in the 35th before converting a penalty to make it 2-0.
Argentina will play Croatia in the semifinals on Tuesday after the 2018 runners-up beat Brazil previous friday.
It is only the second time that Argentina has reached the quarterfinals since 1990. In 2014, Messi was part of the team that lost to Germany in the final.
He seems to be in the mood to get there again in a tournament that he is turning into his own personal highlight reel.
He delivered a fascinating piece of skill and vision to set up Molina’s goal, spinning freely and bursting forward from midfield before delivering a no-look reverse pass for the defender to slot in a finish.
His penalty was his fourth goal of the tournament, taking him to 10th overall at the World Cup, tied with Gabriel Batistuta for the most for Argentina. Messi now has 94 total goals in his 169 caps.
The game featured 17 yellow cards, a record for a World Cup game, including one for Messi, who had blood oozing from his upper lip in an extra-time stage that was dominated by Argentina.
Enzo Fernández hit the post near the end of extra time and was the only Argentine player not to score in the penalty shootout. Martinez’s saves came from attempts by Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis, after which he pulled up his shorts and did a jig.
The defeat ended Louis van Gaal’s third spell in charge of the Netherlands and Messi shared a moment with the 71-year-old coach at the end.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/world-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
