Messi accepted an interview after Argentina winning over Cape Verde 3-2 in extra time. He confessed that a match like this is very difficult to handle.
Leo Messi: "Honestly, we already knew this was going to be a very difficult match. It wasn’t a coincidence that this team didn’t lose to Spain or Uruguay.
"Scoring the first goal was the hardest part, and we thought it would help us control the game and play with more calm, but the exact opposite happened.
"We lost possession at times, dropped a little too deep, and couldn’t press them the way we wanted. They took advantage of their strengths and found the equalizer. We knew this was always going to be a complicated game.
"These are knockout matches, nobody gives you anything for free. Some people might underestimate certain teams because of their names, but we knew this was never going to be an easy match.
"That’s what makes this World Cup so special. Everything is incredibly close, and every single game is extremely difficult.
"As always, we gave everything we had, regardless of whether we played well or didn’t produce our best football.
"Now the most important thing is to recover, focus on the next match, and take the positives from today’s game.”