Messi: Maradona Is Watching Us From Above

Argentina has, according to Lionel Messi, felt Diego Maradona's presence throughout their World Cup run, notably on Friday (Dec. 9), when they defeated the Netherlands on penalties to get to the semifinals. After assisting Nahuel Molina's opening goal before halftime and adding the second from the penalty spot, Messi appeared to have motivated Argentina into a matchup with Brazil's victorious Croatia in the round of eight. However, Argentina conceded twice in stoppage time before goalkeeper Emi Martinez maintained composure to save the first two Dutch penalties and Lautaro Martinez netted the game-winning penalty to advance his team.

"Diego is watching us from above. He is pushing us, and I sincerely hope it continues through the finish "Messi told journalists. "There was a great sense of relief when Lautaro scored and we qualified. We were relieved of the burden "Messi tacked on. "The match was quite challenging. We anticipated that the match would be difficult from the start." That is left on the field with our team. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the time, and this is what we can observe both here and in Argentina, where people are genuinely joyful, ecstatic, and enthusiastic.

"Long balls and a large number of players in the area caused us difficulties from the Dutch squad. They ultimately withdrew, and we were hurt. However, we were successful in securing our place in the semifinals, which was what we desired." After Croatia, the runners-up in 2018, defeated Brazil on penalties earlier, Argentina will play Croatia for a spot in the championship match. Despite their second-half collapse, Argentina's coach Lionel Scaloni claimed that his squad had no trouble finding players eager to take penalties.

"Sometimes it's difficult in these situations, they shy away. This time we had too many volunteers ... We only had to decide the order of our penalty takers," Scaloni said. "It is true that we would have deserved to avoid the penalty shootout but still we fought until the end ... This was a very strange second half. Everything was controlled by us but then we know what happens with football.

"It's a lovely game; just when you think it's over, something unexpected happens. This is crucial because we want to fight, and this team had pride, experience, and young players." Defenders Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuna will not play against Croatia after receiving their second caution of the competition on Friday.