Tiktuknu: Summary of the sports events 4.12 (Sport1)
The world of football continues to follow with excitement the World Cup of Lionel Messi, who yesterday (Saturday) scored again and led the Argentina team to a 1:2 victory over Australia that advanced them to the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Messi himself said after the victory that he is not going to celebrate his personal achievement, after reaching game number 1,000 in his career, and right now he is just breathing a sigh of relief and preparing for the next game, the quarter-finals against the Netherlands on Saturday.
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Messi, 35, who played just two days after Argentina secured qualification to the round of 16 with a win over Poland, passed Diego Maradona when he scored the 9th goal in the World Cup, saying that "it was a tough and strong game, and we knew it would be like this", and when asked if he would celebrate his 1000th game he replied that "No, really not. It was hard, very hard, and we didn't have time to rest, we didn't recover well enough. When we found out we were playing for three more days we said it was crazy and not enough rest, but we came here with a lot of energy to represent our fans."
Messi scored 14 goals this year for Argentina, the most by a player in the national uniform.
Only one moment managed to move Leo Messi, when at the end the Argentinian interviewer showed him a video of his family celebrating his goal in the stands - his wife Antonella and his three sons.
A lot of emotion, a lot of happiness," said Messi, "It's fun to see them happy, it's the first World Cup where they understand what's going on, and that's special."
Graham Arnold, Australia's coach, said of Messi that "he is one of the greatest ever. Just amazing. We made him work hard, but wow, he is exceptional. I had the privilege of playing against Maradona and now not against Messi. Argentina can be proud of these two ".
Be that as it may, the Australian team players themselves were also moved at the end by Messi's presence and took pictures with him.
Some of the players seemed eager to greet him at the finish on the grass.
Australia's goalkeeper said: "After the match ended, I asked Messi for a favor, that I wanted to take a picture with him. He waited for me and took a picture with me. He is an amazing person with immense humility."
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The one who was not impressed by Messi's performance is Piers Morgan, the English TV personality close to Ronaldo, who expressed disgust at the excessive enthusiasm of the commentators.
"The BBC commentators, the passionate Messi fans, showed unceasing adoration, and it's becoming frighteningly insane. I'm starting to fear that one of them will go through something unpleasant in the studio. Calm yourselves guys. He had a good game, against an average team. Let's see him against a good opponent." .
Yesterday Rio Ferdinand said of Messi that "he is like God".
Alan Shearer explained that "the way he handles the ball, when everyone is around him, is extraordinary. He has everything. As soon as he gets the ball, the whole stadium is on its feet. No matter where he is on the field, the whole crowd is on its feet."
Gary Lineker responded to Morgan's words: "It's good to see you emerge briefly from Ronaldo's bowels to express your opinion."
FIFA World Cup
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Lionel Messi
Argentina national team