Fifa World Cup 2022: Lionel Messi says Diego Maradona is ‘watching from heaven and pushing us’
- Messi insists Argentina have felt presence of late, great Maradona in Qatar, including on Friday when they beat Netherlands to reach semi-finals
- ‘Diego is watching us from heaven. He is pushing us and I really hope that this stays the same until the end,’ talisman says after inspiring win
Lionel Messi said Argentina have felt the presence of the late, great Diego Maradona throughout their World Cup campaign, including on Friday when they beat the Netherlands on penalties to reach the semi-finals.
Messi looked to have inspired Argentina into securing a last four meeting with Brazil’s conquerors Croatia after he set up Nahuel Molina’s opener before the break and added the second from the penalty spot.
But Argentina blew a two-goal lead deep into stoppage time before goalkeeper Emi Martinez kept his cool to save the first two Dutch penalties and Lautaro Martinez scored the decisive spot kick to send them through.
“Diego is watching us from heaven. He is pushing us and I really hope this stays the same until the end,” Messi told reporters.
“When Lautaro scored and we qualified there was a huge joy. It was a weight off our chest,” Messi added. “It was a very hard match. From the beginning it was a really tough match, we knew it would be this way.
“We leave that on the pitch with our people. We were really happy and we enjoyed that moment and that’s what we can see here and also in Argentina because people are really happy, they are really excited and they are full of enthusiasm.
