Lionel Messi a shining diamond in rough, ugly and nasty Argentina win over Netherlands

There were tears, there were fights, there were people booked who were not even on the pitch, there were pitch invaders, there was utter chaos.

It was nasty, it was bitter, it was a field full of dirty tricks, conmen and plenty wanting to take a sly dig. It was not to be condoned and the standard was poor … but it was utterly compelling.

In a World Cup dotted with remarkable matches, this was more remarkable than any, for good reasons and for a whole load of bad. And at the end of it, Lionel Messi ’s World Cup dream is still alive after Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis had their spot-kicks saved by Emi Martinez in a penalty shootout won 4-3 by Argentina.

And Messi was just about deserving of a place in the last four after a game in which few did themselves credit. For over 80 minutes of this game, Argentina were in control, thanks, you will not be surprised to know, to Lionel Messi.

Sometimes literally but always metaphorically, Messi operates by different rules. The jaw-dropping pass for Nahuel Molina’s opening goal was the headline act - closely followed by his nonchalant conversion of a second half spot-kick - but there was much more than that to Messi’s contribution.

The Dutch are functional and it takes a stroke of ingenuity to disrupt their metronomic efficiency, that is for sure, so it was a good job Argentina have the most ingenious man to have ever played the game.

Messi had already given the Netherlands defence plenty of notice that while his involvements in a match might be lessening in number, his feet are as quick as ever and perfectly synced with his incomparable footballing brain. The only surprise at the end of one dazzling shuffle was that he finished it with a tame shot.

But the dangerous beauty of Messi in and around the penalty area is that it is impossible to know what he is going to do. Shoot, take on men or conjure up the most sublime of assists, as he did for Molina just after the half-hour mark.

The run from Molina was mightily intelligent, his take exceptional and his finish a wonderful piece of improvisation. Don’t forget, it is not as though Messi left Molina, who was scoring his first goal for Argentina, with a tap-in.

It was a great finish … but the reverse pass was a glorious sign that Messi’s brilliance remains undimmed. Efficiency, organisation, power, pressing, athleticism have become obsessions in modern football but moments of instinctive creativity still win the day.

Not that he had to be too creative to collect Argentina’s second, despatching the penalty emphatically after Denzel Dumries was adjudged, a little harshly, to have tripped Marcos Acuna.

And that was it, surely game over? No. Instead, up to the plate stepped Weghorst, the striker who has not been able to cut it at Burnley.

First, he produced a textbook centre-forward’s header to ensure a nervous finale for Argentina and, with the last act of normal time, equalised when he applied the finishing touch to a cleverly thought-out free-kick. Pandemonium and punch-ups followed and so did an extra-time brimful of nastiness and little class.

And in truth, for their antics, neither side deserved to go through but, thanks to Aston Villa’s Martinez, it will be Argentina and Messi back here for more of the same on Tuesday.