World Cup report: Netherlands 2 - 2 Argentina AET (Argentina win 4-3 on penos)

An epic quarter final was played out at the Lusail Stadium on Friday night as Argentina held on for a penalty shoot victory over a stubborn Netherlands team.

The win sets Lionel Messi and Co. on their way to a semi-final showdown with Croatia on Tuesday night.

There were 19 yellow cards, one red card, a touch line bust up between both sets of players, four goals in normal time and an extremely tense atmosphere throughout.

And that was before Argentina emerged victorious on a 4-3 penalty score after the sides finished level 2-2 at the end of normal time.

The first 30 minutes of the game was a very cagey affair with both sides having lots of possession – but neither side threatened the goalkeepers.

The Dutch were not afraid to mix up their style of play, keeping possession at times but also not afraid to try a long ball to their strikers.

They did this on a number of occasions but frequently over hit the pass with the result that the front players never got an opportunity to test Emi Martinez in the Argentinean goal.

Messi was very quiet during this period where he was well shackled by the Dutch defence, with Man City’s Nathan Ake being particularly impressive in the early stages.

The game turned on 34 minutes, however, and it was almost inevitable that Messi would be centre stage in the key moment.

He picked up a ball outside the box and made an exquisite reverse pass into the path of right wing back Nahuel Molina and the 24-year-old Atletico Madrid player had the relatively easy task of stabbing the ball past Andrias Noppert in the Dutch goal.

This was his first ever international goal and it came at the right moment, allowing the Argentinian side to take control of the game until the whistle blew at the end of the first half

Argentina sat back for the early part of the second half but on one breakaway attack they won a penalty when Denzel Dumfries fouled Marcos Acuna on the edge of the box.

The mercurial Messi stepped up to blast the ball past the six-foot-eight-inch Noppert and at 2-0 with 71 minutes elapsed it looked like game over.

Netherlands manager Louis Van Gaal showed all his experience with his substitutes however, and it was one of those, Wouf Weghorst who turned the game back in their favour.

The tall centre forward headed a cross into the net in the 82nd minute to make it 2-1 and with only seconds left on the clock at the end of 10 minutes of added time, he scored the equaliser when slotting home from a well worked Teun Koopmeiners free kick.

The drama continued through both periods of extra time, with Spanish referee Antonio Mateu becoming the centre of attention as he continued to flash yellow cards whilst appearing to lose control of the game.

Enzo Fernandez almost stole it for Argentina with practically the last kick of the game in the 120^th minute but his shot from the edge of the box hit the post and went wide.

But Argentine keeper Martinez was the hero during the penalty shoot, saving twice from Virgil Van Dyke and Steven Berghuis.

The Dutch did go on to score three penalties but they were outdone by Messi’s side who scored four of their five kicks, with Lautaro Martinez netting the decisive fifth and final one.

Argentina: Emi Martinez; Cristian Romero (German Pezzella 77), Nicolas Otamendi, Li Martinez;( Angel Di Maria 110) Nahuel Molina (Gonzalo Montiel 105) Rodrigo De Paul (Leandro Paredes 66), Enzo Fernandez, Alexis Mac Allister, Marcos Acuna (Nicola Tagliafico 77) Lionel Messi, Julian Alvarez (Lautaro Martinez 81)

Subs not used: Franco Armani, Geronimo Rulli, Juan Foyth, Exequiel Palacios, Angel Correa, Thiago Almada, Guido Rodriguez, Paulo Dybala.

Booked: Walter Samuel (Asst Coach, 30), Marcos Acuna (43) Cristan Romero (45) Li Martinez (75) Leandro Paredes (88), Lionel Scaloni (Manager 90) Lionel Messi (110) Nicolas Otamendi (112), Gonzalo Montiel (ET,109), German Pezzala (ET,112)

Netherlands: Andrias Noppert; Jurrien Timber, Virgil Van Dijk, Nathan Ake; Denzel Dumfries, Marten De Roon (Teun Koopmeiners 46) Frankie De Jong, Daley Blind (Luuk de Jong 64) Steven Bergwijn (Steven Berghuis 46) Cody Gakpo (Noa Lang 113) Memphis Depay (Wout Weghorst. 78)

Subs not used: Justin Bijlow, Remko Pasveer, Jeremie Frimpong, Tyrell Malacia, Matthijs De Ligt, Stefan De Vrij, Kenneth Taylor, Davy Klaassen, Vincent Janssen, Xavi Simons.

Booked: Jurrien Timber (43), Wout Weghorst (45) Memphis Depay (75) Steven Berghuis (87), Steven Bergwijn (103) Denzel Dumfries (128 and 129, shoot out) Noa Lang (129, shoot out)

Red Card: Denzel Dumfries (129, shoot out).

Referee: Antonio Mateu (Spain).

Attendance: 88,000.

Extratime.com Player of the Match: Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina).