In his tormented history with the World Cup, Lionel Messi wrote a new dark page on Tuesday.

In the heat of the Lusail stadium, viewers from all over the world were able to watch a performance worthy of "Doctor Lionel and Mister Messi", sometimes effective, sometimes a shadow of itself.

During the first act, the Argentinian held his team at arm's length, allowing him to open the scoring from the penalty spot in the tenth minute, on a foul generously granted on Leandro Paredes.

Thanks to a perfectly executed counter-foot, Messi thus joined the very closed club of players to have scored at least one goal in four different editions of the World Cup (2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022).

Before the Argentinian, there had been the Germans Uwe Seeler (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970) and Miroslav Klose (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014), the Brazilian Pelé (1958, 1962, 1966, 1970) and the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018).

CR7, his great rival over the past two decades - 7 Ballons d'Or for the Argentinian, 5 for the Portuguese -, has the opportunity on Thursday to win all these beautiful people against Ghana by scoring in five different editions.

Nightmare in the second half

Messi's Qatari afternoon was then rather quiet.

About ten minutes after the opener, the PSG striker was denied a goal for offside.

Then the match turned into an absolute nightmare for the "Pulga".

"It's a very hard blow. We didn't expect to start like this. It's a defeat that hurts, but we have to continue to have confidence in ourselves", reacted Messi in the mixed zone .

At the start of the second half, it was he who lost the ball in midfield on effective pressing from the Saudi "Desert Falcons" and who brought the equalizer for Hervé Renard's men in the 48th minute.

Argentina star Lionel Messi leaves the lawn disappointed after the defeat against Saudi Arabia during the World Cup in Qatar, at the Lusail stadium in Doha, November 20, 2022 Odd ANDERSEN AFP

And as Saudi Arabia took control of the game with a superb goal from Salem Al-Dawsari in the 53rd minute, the Albiceleste playmaker totally stammered his game, failing to save face with the point of the draw.

Draft in the game, the PSG striker did not target an ideally placed free kick ten minutes from the end of regulation time, and could not give any power in his head four minutes later.

The Argentinian may be playing his fifth and probably last World Cup at the age of 35, but he has never managed to be decisive in the matches at stake, the most striking example being the final in 2014 against Germany ( 1-0 ap), when he had never been so close to lifting the most coveted trophy on the football planet.

In seven knockout matches, he has not scored a single goal, a sign of feverishness in the big moments with the selection.

Suffering from the comparison with the legend Maradona, the idol of a whole people and 1986 world champion, Messi won with the Argentine selection only one Copa America, in 2021, and the honorary Finalissima opposing the champion of Europe to the South American champion, last June against Italy (3-0), being elected man of the match.

© 2022 AFP