hypnotic player
With Neymar out and Ronaldo benched by Portugal, only France’s Kylian Mbappe can rival Messi as the tournament’s most compelling player.
Every time he got the ball in the first half, a trio of Dutch defenders tried to build a wall around him in an attempt to pass him as quickly as possible, but like every defensive tactic thrown at him, it only lasted so long. Works on time.
In the 35th minute he saw the light of day and bided his time moving around before passing the ball up, eventually finding a run past Nathan Ake as he weighed up his options.
The choice he made couldn’t have been better, sliding the ball into no-man’s-land between the Dutch defense and the goalkeeper for Molina to race home.
When Marcos Acuña was fouled in the box in the second half, the raucous crowd chanted for Messi to take the penalty and he did not disappoint, audaciously firing home.
When called upon to repeat the feat in the shoot-out, he did it even more coolly before holding out his arms in a rare display of emotion, turning to his team-mates as if to say: “Now this depend on you.”
Goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez rose to the challenge, saving the first two Dutch spot kicks to set the scene for Lautaro Martínez to finish the job with a fifth that drew an ear-searing roar from the throngs of blue-and-white fans.
There was joy, but the dominant emotion on Messi’s face was one of relief as his team celebrated with the fans.
Croatia waits – go beyond them and maybe the fans who haven’t always loved him will put him up there with Diego Maradona, but nothing less than a win in the World Cup final will suffice.