'Genius' Lionel Messi fires Argentina into the knock-out rounds with 91st-minute strike

One of the great iconoclastic World Cup performances was about to reward Iran with a point when a familiar figure collected the ball on the edge of their penalty area in added time. Lionel Messi tapped it to his left and bent a shot that fired Argentina into the knock-out rounds. In all the variables, great players remain the single most important factor in determining outcomes.

Everyone understood the significance of the ball’s curve beyond Alireza Haghighi. They had seen it hundreds of times at Barcelona. You shut Messi down for 89 minutes. You tackle him 30 times. You think you have locked him up. But he just needs one squeak of a chance. The lethal vision is ever present. The boot will provide the execution. A pass from the right, a dart to the left, the teeing-up of the shot: game over.