• With his famous left-footed flourish in the 34th minute, Messi put Argentina ahead for his third goal of this year's tournament and ninth overall at the World Cup - one more than Diego Maradona.
Lionel Messi marked his 1,000th professional game with his first goal in the World Cup knockout stage as Argentina cruised into the quarter-finals with a 2-1 win over Australia on Saturday.
With his famous left-footed flourish in the 34th minute, Messi put Argentina ahead with his third goal of this year's tournament and ninth overall at the World Cup – one more than Diego Maradona.
Julian Alvarez pounced on a heavy touch by Australia goalkeeper Matthew Ryan to tap into an empty net for a second goal as Argentina set up a quarter-final meeting with the Netherlands.
Australia scored a consolation goal in the 77th minute when Craig Goodwin's shot deflected off Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez into the net.
For Australia's squad of unheralded players, it was a match too far in a World Cup in which the team has exceeded expectations by reaching the knockout stage for only the second time. Australia also lost to eventual champions Italy in the last 16 in 2006.
Perhaps this is an omen for Argentina, who have fully recovered from their shock loss to Saudi Arabia in their opening group match and have won three games in a row.
As for Messi, now on 789 career goals, he could peak on December 18 by winning football's biggest trophy in his fifth and potentially final World Cup.
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