FIFA World Cup 2022: This time for our fans!

The passion that Argentine football oozesmdashboth on the pitch by their players and off it by their highly emotional fansmdashis a joy to experience On Saturday night those emotions were in full view as Lionel Messi scored his ninth World Cup goalmdashone more than the legendary Diego Maradona and one less than national record holder Gabriel Batistutamdashagainst Australia in a Roundof16 clashArgentine skipper Lionel Messi centre and teammates acknowledge the crowd after the victory over Australia on Saturday PicAFPThe 45000strong crowd mostly Argentina fans had filled up the venue almost two hours before kickoff This is not common as most venues here have been filling up just 20 or 30 minutes before the startThe Argentine fans probably sensed that something special was coming And it sure did Lionel Messi wowed and mesmerised the audience sometimes even drawing appreciative applause from the handful of Australian fans at the far endAlso ReadLionel Messi Were very angry after Saudi defeat this win is a huge reliefRecord 23rd WC matchOn the pitch the Australian players struggled to contain the man playing his record 23rd World Cup match joint third alongside Paolo Maldini 23 and behind Miroslav Klose 24 and Lothar Matthaus 25 as he harrowed them with his accurate firsttime passes switching of positions by handsignalling teammates to move into empty pockets and quick sprints on turnovers The goal started it all Messi worked out a neat onetwo with Nicolas Otamendi on the edge of the Australian box and sweetly sidefooted the ball through a sea of Aussie legs and into the far left corner of the goal The fans lapped it all up lifting their hands in the air and bringing them down bending forward each time with chants of ldquoMessi Messirdquo in salutation of their God Such was the intensity in the stands on the night that one couldnrsquot hear what the person next to you was saying unless whispered in your ear Messi amp Co though heard and responded to everything And after the game the players engaged in an extended celebration with their afficionados Messi was in the centre of the group jumping and singing along with the crowd Deep defender Otamendi who brilliantly held the defence while the Aussies launched a late fightback took off his shirt in celebration And forward Lautaro Martinez who was brought on in the 71st minute but could only manage to spray the ball across all sides of the Aussie goal was spraying water on his teammatesLionel ScaloniBoth coach Lionel Scaloni and Messi stressed that this victory coming in a campaign where they began with a shocking 12 defeat to Saudi Arabia was especially for their fans ldquoWhen I see the players celebrating with the fans after the game itrsquos a unique morale boost I donrsquot think everyone can experience what a player feels when he sees all these people and knows his country is behind him There is nothing better in football They fans make you want to go out and celebrate because from a physical point of view itrsquos difficult to play so many games at this level but when you see this the people being so happy after the game especially the team feeling identified with the people and the people with them everything is sealedrdquo said ScalonilsquoGrateful to fansrsquoldquoThe union the bond we have with our fans is something very beautiful and itrsquos what this national team are all about Itrsquos unbelievable how they fans live every single match and how they express their passion energy and joy I know how much effort they have put into coming here and I know the whole of Argentina would want to be here These are amazing feelings and we are gratefulrdquo Messi summed up the night and the emotions1986The last time Argentina won the FIFA World Cup