Lionel Messi of Argentina celebrates victory after the 2018 FIFA World Cup Group D match between Nigeria and Argentina in Saint Petersburg, Russia, June 26, 2018. Argentina won 2-1 and advanced to the round of 16. (Xinhua/Yang Lei)
BUENOS AIRES, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Argentinean football star Lionel Messi said on Tuesday that "it is marvellous to win this way," after a tough 2-1 victory against Nigeria, which let it qualify for the second round of the World Cup in Russia.
"We were confident that we would go forward, to win this game, but we did not expect the complication of them equalizing," he told the press.
The forward, who scored his first goal of the Cup by putting Argentina 1-0 up, indicated that "it is marvellous to win this way and that it was Marcos (Rojo) who scored, with everything he went through to be here."
"To be eliminated would have been a very ugly, very unfair ending for all of us," said the captain to the TyC Sports TV channel.
Messi, who turned 31 last Thursday, thanked the more than 30,000 Argentineans who took over the stadium in St. Petersburg, saying that they had made "an enormous sacrifice to be here."
Messi also dismissed any differences the team had had with coach Jorge Sampaoli after the 3-0 loss to Croatia, pointing out that "the jersey of the team is above anything else."
Argentina finished second in its group with 4 points and will face France in the second round on Saturday.
