Watch: Lionel Messi leads Argentina out in f*ckin cool WC warm-up

Planet Football • 02 Dec 2022

Lionel Messi’s Argentina sealed their progression to the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup with a comfortable 2-0 win over Poland and the tone was set with Messi leading an achingly cool walk-out before the game.

All the pre-tournament talk surrounding Argentina centered on Messi’s quest to finally win the competition at the fifth time of asking.

But Argentina suffered a shock defeat against Saudi Arabia in their opening game before scrambling a 2-0 victory over Mexico to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

That meant Argentina were under heavy pressure before their final group match against Poland but a video has now emerged of Messi and his teammates before the match that shows the result wasn’t in much doubt.

Messi, with Leandro Parades and Rodrigo De Paul by his side, can be seen leading his teammates out to the pitch before the game.

The 35-year-old stops just before taking to the pitch and turns round with the rest of the team also halting. Messi then turns to the pitch and jogs out with his side closely following behind. So f*ckin cool…

Gerard Deulofeu played alongside Messi at Barcelona and he enjoyed the video. “The respect towards the greatest in this video is absolute madness”, Deulofeu, who now plays for Udinese, wrote on Twitter.

Goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez meant that Messi’s first-half penalty miss proved academic as Argentina somehow made it through as group winners.

And the stage is set for Messi and Argentina to make further progress at this World Cup; they face Australia in the last 16 on Saturday with the winner going through to a quarter-final against Netherlands or United States.

Lo viven como una puta película. Este nivel de oratoria es único en el mundo.pic.twitter.com/CJMrT3VEhD

— Albert Valor (@PLF_2008) November 30, 2022

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every club Lionel Messi has scored against in the UCL?

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