TEXAS (United States) — Lionel Messi said he was “very angry” with himself for missing a penalty — and channelled it into scoring twice to make World Cup history.
The Argentina captain hit a brace to give the holders a 2-0 win over Austria in Texas, his first goal making him the leading scorer ever at the World Cup with 17 goals.
He added number 18 in second-half injury time to propel Argentina into the last 32.
But it might have been even better for the player widely regarded as the best in the history of football, having dragged a weak penalty wide early on with the game at 0-0.
“There was a moment where I was very angry about the penalty because I missed and I struck it very badly,” said Messi, who turns 39 on Wednesday.
“Luckily we were able to turn the situation around, take the lead and take three very important points,” he added according to AFP.
For all his brilliance, Messi — who turns 39 on Wednesday — is surprisingly poor from the penalty spot by his standards.
He also saw his spot-kick saved by Wojciech Szczesny in a 2-0 win over Poland at the 2022 World Cup, where Argentina went on to be champions, and missed at the 2018 tournament.
Messi, who now plays for Inter Miami in the MLS, did not commit until late on to playing his sixth World Cup.
He also came into the tournament under a small injury cloud over his hamstring.
But he swiftly wiped away any doubts, scoring a hat-trick to dismantle Algeria 3-0 in Argentina’s opening match.
After fluffing his penalty, Messi swept home on 38 minutes to trigger pandemonium at the home of the Dallas Cowboys.
Argentina failed to really build on that in the second half.
Austria, who beat debutants Jordan 3-1 last time out, proved stubborn opponents and even had a couple of glimpses at goal themselves before Messi’s second.
“A very hard victory, the truth is that we knew that it was going to be a match of great intensity,” said Messi.
He added: “This World Cup is all very even games… no one gives anything away, today there was also a lot of intensity.”
Argentina will go through as Group J winners if Jordan do not beat Algeria
The winners of Group J face the runners-up in Group H. Second in that group is currently Uruguay.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni could now choose to rest his talisman for the match against Jordan on Saturday.
Messi said they want to go through with the maximum nine points.
“We’re Argentina and we’re always going to look to win against any opponent,” he said.
