Zlatan Ibrahimovic says Lionel Messi needs more help from his Argentina teammates as the 39-year-old is still operating at a different level to them.
Argentina survived a huge scare in the last 32 on Tuesday and produced an all-time classic comeback to beat Egypt 3-2 after falling 2-0 behind in Atlanta.
That is how the scoreline stood on 78 minutes as the defending champions looked set for an unexpected exit, but Cristian Romero nodded in Argentina’s first from a Messi cross to give them hope.
The Inter Miami forward, who had missed a penalty earlier in the match, then equalised on 83 minutes with a sharp finish, before Enzo Fernandez scored the winner in stoppage time, leaving Messi in tears after the final whistle.
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The Barcelona legend heads into the quarter-finals as the leading scorer at the World Cup with eight goals, ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland on seven.
It has been an incredible return from the veteran who is once again inspiring his country to success and they will fancy their chances in a quarter-final with Switzerland on Saturday.
Ibrahimovic was blown away by the ‘animal’ Messi became when Argentina needed him, but has warned his teammates that they should not expect to rely on him all the time, even though it often seems that they can.
‘You can see that something changed. He flipped a switch (after 2-0). He became an animal and nobody could stop him,’ Ibrahimovic said on Fox Sports.
‘You can see how much it means to him. He may have won everything, however many Ballon d’Or awards there are, but he still wants more.’
He added: ‘To be a little critical, his teammates need to step up more and help. He’s on another level. If Messi continues like this until the end, nobody will be surprised. But he needs help.’
Ibrahimovic is joined by fellow iconic striker Thierry Henry on the Fox Sports coverage, who said of Messi: ‘If you write that script, it’s the kind of film you think could never be real. The kind where you think the director went too far. But Messi writes like that, this guy writes history with his feet.’
His strike against Egypt took his international tally to 125 goals in 204 caps for Argentina.
He has now scored 21 goals in World Cups, stretching his lead on Mbappe, who has netted 19 times in the sport’s biggest tournament.
Miroslav Klose was the World Cup’s all-time leading goal-scorer at the start of this year’s event with 16, but has been surpassed by both, with Harry Kane also closing in on him with 14 goals.
Messi said after his latest masterclass: ‘It got tough at 0-2 and it was very exciting to be able to turn it around.
‘It’s not easy to come back from 0-2 down, but this group never gives up and tries until the end. What this group did today in this qualifying round is insane.’
After Switzerland edged past Colombia on penalties following a goalless draw they take on the defending champions in Kansas City on Saturday for a place in the semi-finals against the winners of England vs Norway.