Messi, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez always shines at important moments like the two saves that helped Argentina win the penalty shootout against Ecuador in the quarter-finals of Copa America 2024.

At NRG Stadium in Houston on July 4, Argentina started poorly but still opened the scoring thanks to Lisandro Martinez’s close-range header. Early in the second half, Ecuador was awarded a penalty when Rodrigo De Paul handled the ball in the penalty area. But on the 11m mark, captain Ener Valencia’s shot hit the post, despite fooling Martinez. However, Ecuador still equalized in the extra minute thanks to Kevin Rodriguez’s header, forcing the two teams to take a penalty shootout to decide the winner.

Here, taking the responsibility of kicking the first kick, Messi kicked a Panenka style shot that hit the top of the crossbar and then went over. In the next two legs of Ecuador, Martinez judged correctly and saved two penalty kicks from Angel Mena and Alan Minda to give Argentina the advantage. All four players who took the penalty kick after Messi, including Julian Alvarez, Alexis Mac Allister, Gonzalo Montiel and Nicolas Otamendi, successfully took the kicks to help Argentina win 4-2.

Goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez saves Angel Mena’s penalty kick during the penalty shootout between Argentina and Ecuador in the Copa America quarterfinals at Houston Stadium on July 4, 2024. Photo: AP

“Martinez always shines in important moments like this, he likes it,” Messi said after the match. “It’s great to have Martinez in goal. Before the game, we were very confident even in the penalty shootout. We had the advantage with Martinez going into this phase.”

According to Messi, Argentina knew in advance that they would have a tense and difficult match because Ecuador is a team with many players, playing dynamically, strongly and fiercely. The 37-year-old striker said that the field conditions at NRG, Houston, Texas did not allow Argentina to play as fast as they wanted, and thanks to that, Ecuador defended more easily.

Messi suffered a hamstring problem, missing the final group game against Peru and leaving the possibility of playing in the quarter-finals open. However, the Argentina captain still played the full 90 minutes against Ecuador and extended his record for most appearances in Copa America history to 36. Chile’s Sergio Livingstone is next with 34 matches and Brazil’s Zizinho with 33 matches.

Messi dribbles the ball during the Copa America 2024 quarter-final match between Argentina and Ecuador on July 5. Photo: Reuters

Messi said he had been trying to get rid of the discomfort and pain since the beginning of the week and had not felt any pain in the last training sessions. The Inter Miami star admitted to being afraid of a recurrence of the injury, but insisted he was ready to play when asked by coach Lionel Scaloni before the match.

Martinez continued to play the hero role, helping Argentina win all four times they entered the penalty shootout. Before yesterday’s match against Ecuador, Martinez helped Argentina beat Colombia 3-2 in the 2021 Copa America semi-finals, the Netherlands 4-3 in the 2022 World Cup quarter-finals and France 4-2 in the 2022 World Cup final, all from the 11m mark.

“I told my teammates before the penalty shootout that I wasn’t ready to go home, and that we deserved to be in the final,” Martinez said after being named man of the match. “I feel very connected to everyone, I have my family with me and these are special moments. This group deserves to go through, it’s exciting.”

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Martinez, Messi and teammates dance to celebrate victory over Ecuador.

Martinez was half-joking about losing his voice from shouting and celebrating with his teammates. “I train hard for moments like this,” the 31-year-old added. “I dive 500 times in training and always try to be in the best shape and form to fight for the team. The fans pay money to come to the stadium to watch us play and we have to repay them. I’m proud and want to continue to develop as a goalkeeper.

Argentina will face the winner of the match between Venezuela and Canada in the semifinals on July 9 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.