Argentina are through to the semifinals of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and while the country celebrates in hope of winning another World Cup, skipper Lionel Messi believes the legendary Diego Maradona is "pushing us" and "watching us from heaven" as the South Americans beat Netherlands on penalties in their quarterfinal on Friday.
Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at the age of 60.
"Diego is watching us from heaven. He is pushing us and I really hope this stays the same until the end," said Messi, who set up Nahuel Molina's opening goal and then added another one from the penalty spot against Netherlands.
But the Dutch added two late goals to make it 2-2. After a goal-less extra time, the Argentines held their nerves in the decisive penalty shootout to emerge winners.
"When Lautaro scored and we qualified there was a huge joy. It was a weight off our chest," Messi told reporters after the match. "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.
Argentina will take on Croatia for a place in the final. The Croats, who were the runners-up in 2018, upset tournament favourites Brazil on penalties in the first quarterfinal.
"The Dutch team made trouble for us with long balls and a lot of players in the area. In the end they drew and we suffered. But we were able to seal our passage to the semi-finals, which is what we wanted," said Messi.
