'My heart stopped a bit when Grzegorz Krychowiak was booked, we knew it was minus three points and fair play was already taken into consideration. 'We had an agreement that only me and the technical staff would be across what was happening in the Mexico match, at one point in time I did pass on some information to Robert ,' he said. Poland head coach Czeslaw Michniewicz said his 'heart stopped' during the anxious closing stages of the 2-0 defeat as his side's qualification hopes went to the wire and midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak's yellow card lessened their fair play advantage. Image: Karol Swiderski and Enzo Fernandez battle for the ball With him in this kind of mood, fuelled by an irresistible sense of destiny, they are serious contenders.

This Argentina side are flawed in many ways. The question now is whether, at 35, the climax of his extraordinary career is still to come. At times, the feints, shimmies and sudden bursts of acceleration harked back to his glorious peak. There were even five dribbles - more than twice as many as any other player on either side. Some of his passes were sublime and, in addition to his seven shots, the statistics showed he was directly responsible for creating five scoring chances - two more than anyone else on the pitch. It was further back, though, in between the lines, that Messi produced most of his best work, producing a masterclass in distribution as Poland's discombobulated defenders found themselves completely unable to keep up with him.

Messi had 98 touches, around 50 per cent more than in either of Argentina's previous games, and that total included 13 in the Poland box.

He had struggled to exert his usual influence against Saudi Arabia and Mexico but not this time. Image: Lionel Messi had 98 touches against Poland

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