Messi and Argentina in danger of World Cup exit as Croatia reach the last 16

Argentina 0 Croatia 3 Croatia: Rebic (53'), Modric (80'), Rakitic (90'+1)

It was billed as Lionel Messi’s latest shot at redemption.

Five days on from his missed penalty against Iceland, four years and 21 successive shots since scoring at a World Cup, 13 years since his Argentina debut and three Copa America final defeats later and a World Cup one, too.

The supposed greatest player in football history without football’s greatest trophy.

So Argentina’s second Group D encounter provided Messi the platform to again prove his worth, even if that felt an absurdity in itself. After the missed penalty and the 1-1 draw with Iceland, the two dropped points he conceded afterwards were because of him, the interim period between Iceland and Croatia that he apparently cut a relatively isolated figure around camp, Messi needed a performance as much as this mishmashed Argentina needed a performance from Messi.

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Yet it never came. Throughout, their typically taciturn captain played on the periphery, a little lost in the brilliant and bonkers din all around him at a packed Nizhny Novgorod Stadium. He seemed forever on the outside looking in.

Save for the time, on 12 minutes, when Messi broke beyond the Croatia defence and his studs could only scrape Eduardo Salvio’s scooped pass, right in front of Danijel Subasic in the opposition goal. Or a