Lionel Messi vs Mexico: Angel Di Maria Reveals How Argentina Star Plotted His Brilliant Goal in World Cup 2022

• Angel Di Maria has revealed how Lionel Messi crafted the goal scored against Mexico
• Messi had discovered the Mexican low block left a space just in front of the penalty area
• A single moment of Messi genius saw Argentina finally break the Mexicans down

Angel Di Maria has lifted the lid on how he and Lionel Messi worked on the brilliant goal, that the latter scored when they faced Mexico on November 26.

Argentina played Mexico with their heads literally on the line, as a defeat could have kicked them out of the competition.

The first half had little to write about, with Argentina failing to impress. The game sprung into life in the 64th minute however, when Messi whipped in a shot from outside the box that whizzed past the legendary Guillermo Ochoa.

He later became the first person to provide an assist at five different World Cups when he laid off to Enzo Fernandez, who rounded off the victory with a peach of a shot, Sports Brief reported.

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Di Maria had provided the assist to Messi's first goal. After his usual mazy runs, the Juventus star passed the ball to Messi, who was on the edge of the box.

Mexicans were playing deep

The winger has revealed they had discussed the tactic with the Argentine talisman beforehand. Messi had noticed that Mexican players were playing narrow and deep, thus leaving space just outside the area.

As NDTV reports, he instructed the Argentinian players to give him the ball whenever that space presented itself - and the best bet to get the ball to the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner was Di Maria.

Messi's idea worked

As Messi predicted, he received the ball with a little bit of space, but as has become tradition while defending against the PSG forward, he was quickly closed down. However, Messi needed only two seconds to look up and see Ochoa's position before unleashing the shot.

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By the time the Mexican players had surrounded him, the ball was cannoning past their goalkeeper as the Lusail Iconic Stadium went into a frenzy.

It's important to note that Messi didn't try to walk the ball into the net with his dribbling skills. He rarely scores goals from outside of the box, but this time he decided to maximise a defensive lapse in the Mexican team and hand his side a major lifeline.

Argentina celebrations

Sports Brief had earlier reported that Argentina celebrated for over an hour in the dressing room at the Lusail Stadium, following their vital 2-0 win over Mexico on Saturday night.

The South Americans suffered a shock defeat at the hands of minnows Saudi Arabia in their 2022 World Cup opener.

The result invariably ended Argentina's 36-game unbeaten run dating back to 2019, thus putting overwhelming pressure on La Albiceleste in their second group game against Mexico.