ATLANTA: Lionel Messi inspired Argentina to a remarkable World Cup fightback as they came from ​two goals down to beat Egypt 3-2 in a dramatic last-16 game.

Messi wept tears of relief after the final whistle of another Argentinian drama which saw the holders trail 2-0 and 11 minutes from a shock defeat. Goals from Cristian Romero, Messi and Enzo Fernandez, two minutes into stoppage time, sent them into the quarter-finals.

Egypt had been on the brink of one of the great World Cup upsets after Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Zico scored excellent goals, one in each half, and Messi ​had squandered an early penalty.

The North Africans fell apart in the closing stages, however, as the 39-year-old Messi, whose record World Cup goal ​haul is now up to 21, orchestrated Argentina’s dramatic revival.

The captain provided the cross from which Romero headed home to ⁠start the comeback in the 79th minute and four minutes later Messi crashed home the equaliser after substitutes Lautaro Martinez and Gonzalo Montiel had both ​got vital touches to keep the ball away from Egyptian defenders.

The winner came from a counter-attack as Lautaro Martinez crossed from the right and Fernandez cushioned ​a back-post header past goalkeeper Mostafa Shoubir.

Egypt felt they ​deserved a penalty before the breakaway and vociferously complained but to no avail.

They had been surprisingly positive in the early stages and opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Emam Ashour attempted to tease his way past the Argentine defence on the right ‌flank but, ⁠seeing no way through, passed back to Marwan Attia, who floated in a long cross that Ibrahim rose to head home.

The lead should have only lasted four minutes as Haissem Hassan caught overlapping Nicolas Tagliafico with a late tackle to give away a penalty. But it only served to mark the start of the goalkeeping heroics of Shoubir, whose dive to the left easily stopped a weak left-footed effort from Messi – the first player to miss two ​penalties at a World Cup after ⁠also failing from the spot against Austria in the group phase.0

Shoubir made a reflex stop to deny a point-blank header from Alexis Mac Allister in the 28th minute, Messi shot a free kick against a post and the goalkeeper pulled off an even more extraordinary ​save six minutes from halftime to defy Julian Alvarez.

Egypt had the ball in the net in the 62nd minute but Zico’s finish, after a sweeping move inspired by Hassan’s trickery and Mohamed Salah’s pass, was denied by VAR for a foul.

Five minutes later, however, Egypt doubled their lead in similar ⁠circumstances. Salah ​swept the ball forward on the counter, Hassan took it to the byline, and Zico came ​storming in to finish the cutback pass.

Shoubir said: “The win was within our reach. We were only missing a few small details. As everyone saw, we were very close to winning but ​it just wasn’t meant to be.”

###