Argentina came from behind to beat Egypt in the World Cup last 16 | World Cup 2026 news

Argentina made a stunning comeback from 2-0 down to avoid a shock exit by Egypt and extend Lionel Messi’s World Cup career with 3-2 win to reach the quarterfinals.

The players looked down on Tuesday as goals from Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Ziko, either side of Messi’s saves, saw the Afarao seal a historic win in Atlanta.

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However, Cristian Romero’s header backfired as Argentina struck three times in the last 11 minutes including stoppage time.

Messi overcame the equalizer and scored in his ninth consecutive World Cup to take the lead in the Golden Boot and the tournament with eight.

Enzo Fernandez completed the transformation with a superb header two minutes into stoppage time.

At the end, Messi shed tears of joy as he hugged his teammates.

Egypt were furious after several calls went against them, including a disallowed goal early in the second half, and one of them was shown a red card after the winning goal.

But despite the second threat of power against the opposition of Africa, Argentina will meet again Colombia or Switzerland of the last eight on Saturday.

Lionel Scaloni tried to revive a team that looked dead on their feet at the end of a 3-2 victory over Cape Verde in the last 32 on Friday.

Nicolas Tagliafico, Leandro Paredes and Julian Alvarez returned from the team that started in Miami, but Argentina started slowly.

Marwan Attia’s deep cross to the back was assisted by Yasser.

Argentina had the chance to level five minutes later when Tagliafico was brought down by Haissem Hassan inside the box.

However, there was another sad chapter for Messi from the suspension at the World Cups.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or’s strike was narrow, and Mostafa Shobeir flew to his left to save, meaning Messi has missed four of the eight penalties he has missed at World Cups. He also became the first player to miss two in a single tournament, having also failed to hit the target against Austria in the group stage.

The penalty save was just the beginning of Shobeir’s inspired afternoon.

Alexis Mac Allister’s powerful cross into the void was almost stopped by the Al Ahly stopper.

Shobeir then pulled out one of the game’s saves to prevent Alvarez’s shot from finding the floor.

Egypt thought they had extended their lead on the hour after a fierce attack.

Mohamed Salah played in Mostafa Ziko, who fed the ball brilliantly past Emi Martinez.

However, Egypt’s celebrations were cut short by a powerful VAR intervention due to a foul on Lisandro Martinez, outside the Egyptian box, early in the goal.

The decision angered the Argentine crowd, but it was silenced shortly after by another Egyptian outburst.

Salah led the charge again before feeding Hassan, whose cross was swept away by Zico.

Argentina looked the beaten side with Messi among those with their heads bowed during the second-half drinks break.

However Romero’s header – which Shobeir just missed – sparked a stunning revival as the defending champions cleared themselves off the canvas.

Moments later a brilliant run from Messi angered Lautaro Martinez, who just glanced over and Messi should have had a chance to redeem himself on seven minutes.

Gonzalo Montiel returned the ball for his captain to hit a sweet half volley.

Shobeir was hit again but couldn’t stop it as the ball was fired over the crossbar for Messi’s 21st World Cup goal.

Then Fernandez’s header from Lautaro Martinez’s cross finished off the rebound, and Argentina’s relief was palpable after the final whistle.

Scaloni spoke briefly to the media after the game.

“I can’t look up, sorry. I’m very emotional right now,” said the Argentine coach.

“What a bunch of players, man. That’s it, I gotta go.”