Lionel Messi scored his first goal in the knockout phase of a World Cup

The Argentine star scored his first goal in a knockout phase and did so against Australia at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

Lionel Messi scored in the 35th minute of Argentina’s round of 16 match against Australia to put Albiceleste provisionally 1-0 in favor, this Saturday in Doha, thus achieving his first goal in a direct elimination round of the World Cup.

Nicolás Otamendi, from the front, was the author of the assist so that Messi, in the area, found the gap between three rivals to put a crossed shot close to the post, which served to open the scoring on the first great occasion of a game until then without great danger.

It was Messi’s ninth goal in the total of the five World Cups he has played, but the previous eight came in group stage matches, before the tournament entered the round of 16 matches.

Messi’s first goal in a World Cup was in his debut game, in Germany-2006, when he sealed the 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro in the 88th minute, on the second date of his group.

After failing to score in South Africa-2010, Messi stood out with four goals in Brazil-2014, an edition in which Argentina was runner-up.

The four goals of the Argentine star were in the group round, where his team signed a full of triumphs: Messi scored a goal in the victories over Bosnia-Herzegovina (2-1) and Iran (1-0), and a brace then in the 3-2 over Nigeria.

In Russia-2018 his only goal was in the 2-1 victory against Nigeria, with which his team avoided elimination in the first phase of the tournament.

In Qatar-2022, Messi started well, scoring a penalty after 11 minutes in the game against Saudi Arabia, but the ‘Green Hawks’ came back later and won 2-1.

He scored another goal to lead to a 2-0 win over Mexico and missed a penalty in the 2-0 win against Poland.