Argentina stage epic World Cup come-back as Egypt coach makes blasting claims

Another Lionel Messi masterclass helped Argentina secure their spot in the FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarter-finals. This time, however, the win came after the defending champions were 2-0 down against Mohamed Salah's Egypt. The Albiceleste pulled of a legendary comeback to win the match 3-2 after the 79th minute.

Following the heartbreaking defeat, Egypt coach, Hossam Hassan made serious allegations claiming refereeing bias and said that the match had been fixed.

Lionel Messi leads Argentina's dramatic Round of 16 victory to eliminate Egypt

Argentina went in as favourites before taking on Egypt in the Round of 16 World Cup clash who had won their first every knock-out match in World Cup history to face the title holders.

Just 15 minutes into the game, Egypt's Yasser Ibrahim opened the scoring to stun Argentina. They had a chance to equalise with a penalty but Messi missed from the spot, adding to the shock. Mostafa Ziko doubled the lead by scoring from a counter-attack in the 67th minute, minutes after he had a goal disallowed.

However, Argentina were not done and scripted a beautiful comeback that began with a Cristian Romero header in the 79th minute from Messi's assist. The talisman went on to score the equaliser in the 83rd minute as cheers erupted all around the Atlanta Stadium. Enzo Fernandez completed the comeback, scoring a header in the 90+3rd minute and ensuring that there was more of World Cup football that their captain got to play.

With this goal, Lionel Messi, who was in tears after the match, regained his position as the sole top-scorer of the tournament with 9 goal (21 in the World Cup). He has now scored in a record sixth knock-out match in the tournament and has the most assists (9) in the World Cup.

Egypt coach furious after loss

With minutes to go until the final whistle, it seemed like Egypt had managed to pull of a historic upset. However, they botched their two-goal lead after Argentina completely dominated the game in the last few minutes.

The coach, Hossam Hassan made some serious allegations, suggesting Egypt was cheated to ensure Argentina go through. "I do not want to put it nicely and talk about hard luck. We have been cheated unfairly today, we have suffered injustice. We haven't seen respect or fair play. There has not been respect or fair play", he said.

The coach added, "Perhaps they wanted to keep the world champions in the competition. Perhaps they wanted Messi to stay in the running...The world champions received support at every level."

The Egypt football federation has reportedly lodged a formal complaint with FIFA asking for an investigation into the refereeing of the match.

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