Lionel Messi's (Paris Saint-Germain) first goal of the World Cup tournament led Argentina to defeat Australia and advance to the quarterfinals of the World Cup in Qatar.
Argentina beat Australia 2-1 with Messi's opening goal in the first half and Julian Alvarez's (Manchester City) winning goal in the second half in the round of 16 of the tournament held at the Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar on the 4th (Korean time).
Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals of the World Cup eight years after the runner-up in Brazil in 2014, continuing its challenge to win the championship in 36 years since Mexico in 1986.
Messi, who made his debut in Germany in 2006 and scored eight goals in the group stage alone, scored his first World Cup tournament goal.
In addition, Messi played his 23rd World Cup match in his career, rising to third place with Paulo Maldini (Italy), following Lothar A Matheus (25 matches) and Miroslav Klose (24 matches or more Germany).
Argentina will advance to the semi-finals on the 10th at Lusail Stadium with the Netherlands, who defeated the United States 3-1 in the previous match.
Australia, who reached the round of 16 for the first time in 16 years since the 2006 tournament in Germany, failed to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time.
Messi scored the opening goal in the 35th minute of the first half by finishing the ball back from Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica) with a left-footed grounder shot from the front of the goal area.
Messi, who scored his third goal in the tournament, is jointly leading the scoring rankings with Kylian Mbappe (France), Ener Valencia (Ecuador), Alvaro Morata (Spain), Marcus Rashford (England) and Cody Hagpo (Netherlands). went up
Australia shifted their center of gravity forward and eagerly attempted to score, but goalkeeper Matthew Ryan (Copenhagen) made an error and conceded an extra run.
In the 12th minute of the second half, Ryan failed to properly handle the defender's back pass and the ball was stolen by Alvarez, who promptly shot and made it 2-0.
Australia, driven to the edge of the cliff, caught up with one point in the 32nd minute of the second half with an own goal, but in the 35th minute of the second half, Aziz Basie (Dundee) broke through four players from the left and broke into the goal area, then fired a shot that hit the defender's foot and hit the post. I was left with regret.