Picture Credit: Twitter
Even though Australia and Argentina players were rivals on the field in the Round of 16 game at the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, such is the stature of Lionel Messi that minutes after the final whistle even the opposition players were interested in getting clicked with the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner. The video of the incident has gone viral on the internet.
Notably, Argentina went on to win the match against Australia 2-1 and secured a place for themselves in the quarterfinals. Even though Australia started off on a dominant note and had much of the possession in the initial minutes of the first half, a magical Messi moment saw Argentina take the lead in the 35th minute.
There was no looking back from there on as the Albicelestes doubled their lead in the second half with the help of a goal from Julián Alvarez and even though the Aussies were successful in pulling one back towards the end, it was a satisfying performance from Argentina.
Watch Australia players taking turns to get a picture with Messi:
Before the match, Australian player Milos Degenek had said that they respect Messi but won't be afraid to face him.
"I always loved Messi and I think he's the greatest to ever play the game," defender Milos Degenek had said. "[But] it's not an honour to play against him because he's just a human, as we all are," he added.
"It's an honour to be in the round of 16 of a World Cup. That's the honour in itself. Whether we played Argentina or we would have played against Poland, it still would have been an honour to represent Australia in the round of 16 of a World Cup," he further said.