It was fiery, it was fractious, it descended into utter bedlam, simply a World Cup knockout tie for the ages. Argentina went to hell and back, collapsing deep into second-half stoppage time to squander a two-goal lead after Louis van Gaal’s substitutions combined to wreak havoc. But after a fraught period of extra time Argentina came out on top of a ludicrous bout, with Lautaro Martínez scoring the decisive spot-kick in a penalty shootout victory. Lionel Messi’s magical assist and penalty for his 10th World Cup goal, to equal Gabriel Batistuta’s record, finished as footnotes.
Argentina had to suffer and then some but Martínez kept his cool. Argentina had appeared in control but the arrival of Weghorst, a 6ft 6in striker who joined Besiktas on loan from Burnley in the summer, with 78 minutes on the clock undeniably changed the game. With seconds of 10 minutes of second-half stoppage time to play, two of Argentina’s substitutes, German Pezzella and Leandro Paredes, whose poor challenge on Nathan Aké brought a first melee approaching the end of normal time, were lured into sandwiching Weghorst on the edge of the box as the trio contested an aerial ball. And then the Dutch got inventive. Teun Koopmeiners, also a late substitute, shaped to shoot from the subsequent free-kick but instead cannoned the ball into the feet of Weghorst, who rolled his marker and promptly prodded the ball into the far corner.
