World Cup - Messi: Egypt's goalkeeper saved two opportunities brilliantly.. and I felt that we lost

Lionel Messi, captain of the Argentine national team, revealed his feelings after the loss following the 2-0 deficit against Egypt.

Lionel Messi

Club: Inter Miami

Egypt's national team bid farewell to the World Cup competitions from the round of 16 after a loss in the dying moments to Argentina.

Argentina's national team turned their two-goal deficit into a 3-2 victory, securing their qualification to the quarterfinals.

Lionel Messi said: "In fact, I felt that things were over after the score reached 2-0; I saw that things were very difficult and the situation was complicated".

He revealed, "I was feeling intense anger because of the penalty kick I missed, because if I had scored it, the dynamics of the match would have been completely different, and I think we played well despite trailing 1-0".

He continued, "The goalkeeper brilliantly saved two clear chances after the penalty for both Mac Allister and Alvarez".

He added, "We felt that we could turn the match around after Romero's goal and come back in the remaining time; as for me, I thought we would decide the match in extra time, but fortunately we didn't need that".

Messi concluded his statements, "What we did in the last 15 minutes is evidence of the team's character and our pride in belonging to this national team".

Egypt's national team took the lead through Yasser Ibrahim in the 15th minute, and Lionel Messi missed a penalty in the 21st minute, allowing the Pharaohs to end the first half with a goal to nil.

Mustafa Zico scored a goal in the 58th minute before it was disallowed by the match referee after resorting to video technology due to a foul on Marwan Attia.

Zico succeeded in scoring the second goal after it was counted this time in the 67th minute from a pass by Haitham Hassan.

Argentina's national team snatched the match in the final minutes after Christian Romero, Lionel Messi, and Enzo Fernández scored in succession in the 79th, 83rd, and 92nd minutes respectively.

Argentina's national team advances to face the winner of Switzerland against Colombia in the quarterfinals.