Defender Ali Al-Bulayhi provoked Lionel Messi, when Saudi Arabia doubled the score to 2-1 in Argentina’s World Cup match on November 22.
Al-Bulayhi was deemed brave for provoking the Paris Saint-Germain superstar with less than 40 minutes remaining in the match.
However, the Saudi defender and his teammates realised their words, when defending the advantage of leading one goal until the end of time, to make one of the biggest shocks of the World Cup.
Messi admitted there were no words to excuse the 2 – 1 loss after the match.
“This is a situation we haven’t had in a long time. We didn’t expect such a difficult start.” Messi said.
The loss to Saudi Arabia also broke Messi’s record as the first Argentine player to score in four World Cups. The 35-year-old striker is also the fourth player in World Cup history to be seen in five tournaments.
Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, got a series of praise as a result of its historic victory. According to Saudi Arabia’s state news agency (SPA), King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has announced November 24 a national holiday to allow the entire country to rest and celebrate the win.
The only bad news for Saudi Arabia is that the number one left-back Yasser Al-Shahrani has to retire from the tournament. He suffered a broken jaw injury after a collision with goalkeeper Al-Owais.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman soon sent a private jet to pick up Al-Shahrani from Qatar to Germany for treatment.
While Messi called on his teammates to unite and keep the faith. According to him, Argentina’s records in recent years are not random, and failure is inevitable in the progress of a team.
Argentina was rated as the top championship candidate based on the quality of the squad and performance.
