A second chance: How Messi's Argentina reached the World Cup final again

DOHA : Pre-tournament favourites Argentina stumbled at the first World Cup hurdle before getting their act together to storm into another final, led by their inspirational skipper Lionel Messi who has moved to the top of the tournament's scoring charts.

Eight years ago, Messi dragged Argentina to the World Cup final only to lose to Germany but this time he has a supporting cast and a tactically astute coach in Lionel Scaloni who has guided them to the showpiece match in Qatar.

The following is Argentina's path to the final:

GROUP STAGE MATCH 1: ARGENTINA 1-2 SAUDI ARABIA

Argentina came into the tournament on the back of a 36-match unbeaten run and the last thing Scaloni's side expected was to suffer what was statistically the biggest shock in World Cup history when Saudi Arabia beat them 2-1.

Messi scored a 10th minute penalty in the first half where Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside before the Saudis struck twice in the second half to stun the South American champions.

If Argentina could take any solace from the result, it was that when they lost their group opener to Cameroon in 1990 they still reached the final.

Scaloni was calm, however, while Messi rallied his troops with the message: "We have to return to the foundation of who we are."

GROUP STAGE MATCH 2: ARGENTINA 2-0 MEXICO

With a World Cup trophy missing in his cabinet, Messi has never really been considered as equal with Diego Maradona but against Mexico he matched the late Argentina great's record of 21 matches and eight goals at the finals.

With the match deadlocked at 0-0 after more than an hour, Messi picked his moment and then picked his spot, firing home from 20 metres to beat goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa by the narrowest of margins.

Substitute Enzo