Lionel Messi’s Argentina looked out of the 2026 World Cup for long stretches, trailing Egypt 2-0 with ten minutes to go before an incredible late rally sealed a 3-2 comeback win, to secure a spot in the quarterfinals.
Cristian Romero pulled one back, Messi leveled it at 2-2 with a goal that also matched Guillermo Stabile’s 96-year-old Argentina record of eight goals in a single World Cup, and Enzo Fernandez completed the turnaround in stoppage time to send Argentina through to the quarterfinals.
Speaking with TyC Sports after the match, Messi reflected on the difficulty of the comeback and the character of the squad. “I’m happy we made it through and with the way we did it. We knew it was going to be tough. We suffered again, but this is the World Cup. Every game is like this because everything is so evenly matched. It isn’t easy to come back from 2-0 down, but as I always say, this team never gives up. We keep fighting until the very end,” Messi said.
“We were fortunate to get Cuti’s goal early in the second half. There was still plenty of time, and we managed to turn it around before the final whistle. What this team did in this knockout match is unbelievable. I’m very happy that our fans can keep enjoying this journey and what we’re doing. Hopefully we can keep going,” he added.
Lionel Messi celebrates a goal for Argentina vs Egypt. (Getty Images)
Messi reaches World Cup records in Argentina’s comeback
Trailing 2-0 with just minutes to play, Argentina turned the match around in a hurry: Cristian Romero pulled one back before Messi leveled it at 2-2 within five minutes, erasing the two-goal deficit in the process.
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With that sequence, Messi became only the third player in World Cup history to be directly involved in two goals scored five minutes or less apart to wipe out a two-goal deficit in a knockout match, joining Abdelrahman Fawzi (1934) and Kylian Mbappe (2022 final vs. Argentina) on that short list.
The equalizer carried extra historical weight of its own. It marked the first time any player has scored in six consecutive World Cup knockout matches: vs. Australia (2022), vs. Netherlands (2022), vs. Croatia (2022), vs. France (2022 final), vs. Cape Verde (2026), and now vs. Egypt (2026). The previous record of five straight had stood since it was shared by Leonidas, Gyorgy Sarosi, and Vava.
