Why I cried after Argentina’s World Cup comeback — Messi

Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, has revealed that his tears after Argentina’s dramatic World Cup comeback against Egypt were not just tears of joy, but tears of guilt.

Messi missed a first-half penalty as Argentina fell behind against Egypt in their Round of 16 clash in Atlanta.

For a long spell, the defending champions looked close to a shocking World Cup exit, with Egypt taking a 2-0 lead through Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Zico.

But Messi later dragged Argentina back into the game, setting up Cristian Romero before scoring the equaliser himself.

Enzo Fernandez then completed the comeback deep into stoppage time, sealing a 3-2 victory and sending Argentina into the quarter-finals.

Speaking after the match, Messi said the missed penalty weighed heavily on him.

“I cried because I felt that I let my teammates down, because of the penalty I missed… and the way I took it,” he said.

“But thankfully once again, God had something special for me in the end. I’m very happy.”

Messi said Argentina refused to accept that their World Cup journey would end in such painful fashion.

“We didn’t want and didn’t deserve to go home, we could not let it end like that,” he said.

“This group really deserved to keep going. We never give up, at all. Never.”

Messi’s equaliser was his eighth goal of the tournament, pushing him back to the top of the Golden Boot race.

It also extended his remarkable scoring run in World Cup knockout matches.

Argentina will now face Switzerland in the quarter-finals on July 11 in Kansas City.

For Messi, however, the night will be remembered not only for another rescue act, but for the tears of a captain who believed, for a moment, that he had failed his team.