by Argentina star Lionel Messi almost scored with his very first touch of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The 35-year-old raced into the box in the opening two minutes of the match and fired a shot goalbound, but his effort was denied by Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Al-Owais.
Angel di Maria’s cross from the right was closed down but the ball spilled out to Messi, whose first-time shot was low, but he failed to open the scoring.
It wasn’t long, however, before the PSG forward opened the scoring as he notched his first goal of the tournament in the 10th minute from the penalty spot.
The former Barcelona ace sent a ball into the box from a free-kick, but there was some pushing and shoving, which led to a VAR check.
The referee pointed to the spot after having a look at the monitor and up stepped Messi with an ice cold finish.
His goal means that he becomes the first Argentine to score in four different World Cups – yet another record broken by Messi.
It could have been a second for Messi just moments later as he peeled away from the defence to get onto a ball over the top.
Messi skipped into the area and slotted home, but the flag quickly went up for offside to deny him a second goal in the first-half of the clash.
Argentina continued to dominated and had the ball into the back of the net for a third time inside the opening half hour when Lautaro Martinez slotted home.
Once again, it was flagged down for offside after a VAR check after the Inter Milan striker was played in behind, before waiting out the goalkeeper and chipping the ball into the back of the net.
