BHARGAB SARMAH

SAINT PETERSBURG: Relief washed over them as the final whistle blew at the Krestovsky Stadium on Tuesday. During the game, Lionel Messi had piggybacked on Marcos Rojo, after he hugged Javier Mascherano. Angel di Maria was starting to tear up, perhaps overwhelmed at being spared the ignominy of a group-stage ouster. Don’t cry for Argentina yet.

The tension in the lead-up to the end had got to Messi as well. He had done the team talk at halftime, scored a sublime goal and when Rojo popped up from nowhere to blast the winner he showed what that goal meant to him. Then, Messi, who has so much joy with a football, waited the longest he has ever had for a match to end.

To protect Argentina’s 2-1 lead, Messi, visibly fatigued from a bruising encounter, chased every ball, even made a sliding tackle in the final third as he was being outrun by a Nigerian defender, before getting booked for wasting time. Argentina simply couldn’t afford to squander the opportunity provided by their left-footed centre-back who had scored with an outrageous right-footed volley, a finish that would be the envy of football’s most famous No. 9s, and Messi would do whatever it took to protect the 2-1 scoreline. “Yes, we suffered a lot because it was a difficult situation but we had a lot at stake and it was a huge relief to win,” Messi said.

The evening had begun on a positive note for Argentina. When Victor Moses took nearly half-a-minute for a throw-in in the first minute, it was clear that Nigeria wanted to frustrate their

opponents. It did little to deter Argentina though as, bolstered by Ever Banega in central midfield, they controlled the proceedings.

In the 14th minute, a pinpoint long ball from Banega found Messi. The pass was met with an equally good first touch with his