L. Messi – about the incredible match with the Green Peninsula: 'You won't get anything for free'

2026-07-04 12:41 © scanpix

Argentina's team leader Lionel Messi commented on the incredible round of 16 match against Australia, which Argentina only won after extra time – 3:2.

After the match, the 39-year-old forward, who scored his seventh goal in this tournament, spoke candidly.

To the media, the football legend said: "To be honest, even before the match, we understood that this would be a very difficult task. It’s no coincidence that this team did not fall behind Spain or Uruguay.

This is a knockout match, and here you don’t get anything for free. That’s why this World Cup is special.

We put in a lot of effort ourselves, regardless of whether we played at our highest level or a bit worse. We need to fix things, and there were several issues.”