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Argentina’s World Cup campaign hit a bump in the road against Cape Verde – and Lionel Messi came away with a bump of his own on his forehead.
Messi was again on the scoresheet with a sublime goal as Argentina beat the West African minnows 3-2 to reach the last 16 – but only after extra-time.
And the 39-year-old came away battered and bruised after taking a knee to his noggin.
After falling and whacking his head against an opponent’s leg, Messi reached for an ice pack to aid his recovery before playing on for the rest of the match.
In his post-match interview, fans got a close-up view of his new facial mound, which shone bright and clear – though one fan rebranded it a ‘badge of greatness’.
Messi had given Argentina the lead after 29 minutes after effortlessly taking down a long pass and lifting the ball over goalkeeper Vozinha.
Lionel Messi came away from Argentina’s winover Cape Verde with a bruise on his forehead
Messi scored but it was a close affair for Argentina, who needed extra-time to win 3-2
But Cape Verde were not about to roll over and just before the hour mark, Deroy Duarte snatched a shock equaliser which would send the game to extra-time.
There, Manchester United’s Lisandro Martinez converted a powerful shot to dampen Cape Verdean hopes, but then the unthinkable happened.
Defender Sidny Lopes Cabral curled a beautiful long-range screamer into the far corner of the net and ran off to celebrate in the crowd, thinking he had potentially sent the game to penalties.
But football can be a cruel game sometimes and so it proved to be, as an own goal from Diney in the 111th minute from an Argentina corner denied a fairytale result.
Argentina will face Egypt in the last 16.
Messi said: ‘Honestly, we already knew this was going to be a very difficult match. It wasn’t a coincidence that this team didn’t lose to Spain or Uruguay.
‘Scoring the first goal was the hardest part, and we thought it would help us control the game and play with more calm, but the exact opposite happened.
‘We lost possession at times, dropped a little too deep, and couldn’t press them the way we wanted. They took advantage of their strengths and found the equalizer. We knew this was always going to be a complicated game.
‘These are knockout matches, nobody gives you anything for free. Some people might underestimate certain teams because of their names, but we knew this was never going to be an easy match.
‘That’s what makes this World Cup so special. Everything is incredibly close, and every single game is extremely difficult.
‘As always, we gave everything we had, regardless of whether we played well or didn’t produce our best football.
‘Now the most important thing is to recover, focus on the next match, and take the positives from today’s game.’
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