Lionel Messi was always going to be the man to make the difference during Argentina's World Cup quarter-final against Netherlands, wasn't he?
The 35-year-old may not have scored this one but the assist was absolutely sublime. Messi danced his way through Dutch bodies and managed to play a no-look pass through the eye of the needle for Nahuel Molina – who finished it rather splendidly himself. Not bad for a wing-back: even the Flea himself would be proud.
Sometimes you just need a moment of magic from you-know-who. Where does this go down in pantheon of all-time great World Cup assists?
Lionel Messi ➡️ Nahuel Molina!Argentina are in front 👏 Watch on @BBCiPlayer or @BBCOne, or listen on @BBCSounds 📺💻🎧#BBCFootball #BBCWorldCupDecember 9, 2022
This game needed a spark of magic, too.
The start of the game played out at a rather slow tempo with both the Netherlands and Argentina feeling each other out rather than exploding into action. With BBC pundit Pablo Zabaleta describing the 2014 semi-final between this pair as “boring”, it seemed as though history could well repeat itself with without a single shot on target in the opening 20 minutes – the first effort of either side was a potshot from distance that Messi blazed wildly over the bar, with Steven Bergwijn shanking one wide a couple of minutes later.
Messi's sumptuous set-up for Molina marks the Paris Saint-Germain forward's 1001th game nicely, too. He's started his next millennium as he spent most of his last then, just weaving his magic effortlessly. You run out of superlatives for this guy sometimes, right?
The winner of the Netherlands and Argentina faces Croatia in the semi-final next week.
