After Cristiano Ronaldo’s stunning hat-trick against Spain on Friday night, it was inevitable that the planet’s eyes would turn to Lionel Messi to see how he would respond when Argentina locked horns with Iceland at the Spartak Stadium. The World Cup is about far more than these two individual superstars, of course, but the Barcelona man was unable to match his Real Madrid counterpart’s exploits in the first round of fixtures.
Argentina’s extraordinary reliance on Messi was clear from the start, as the 30-year-old continually dropped deep in a bid to start the play and move the ball forward. His touch looked sharp and he managed to wriggle out of tight situations on multiple occasions, but Iceland were successful in keeping him off the scoresheet.