Messi shoulders blame after Argentina falls short: Missed penalty 'hurts'
Argentina superstar Lionel Messi took his side's dispiriting 1-1 draw with Iceland on Saturday personally, blaming himself for failing to lead his country to a win in its first match at the World Cup.
With a chance to break the deadlock on a 64th-minute penalty, the 30-year-old fired a waist-high attempt that opposing 'keeper Hannes Halldorsson had little difficulty stopping. Messi didn't register his name on the scoresheet despite attempting 11 shots in the contest, but only three on goal.
Teammate Sergio Aguero defended his captain, stating it only proved he was human, but Messi held himself accountable for the result.
"It hurts me to have missed the penalty because it was the decisive advantage," Messi said, according to ESPN. "I feel responsible for not having been able to take the three points. I have no doubt that a goal from the penalty kick would have changed everything."
Messi has faced scrutiny from his native country throughout his career for failing to replicate his club success with Barcelona at the international level.
Related: Why Messi must win the World Cup for Argentina to love him
Since Messi's debut with La Albiceleste in 2005, Argentina has lost every tournament final it's played in, failing to score a single goal. He led the country to the 2014 World Cup final against Germany, where it fell 1-0 in extra time, and he helped it reach three of the last four Copa America finals, where it lost once to Brazil and twice on penalties to Chile.
Despite Messi's poor record in international finals, Argentina manager Jorge Sampaoli defended his star player, adding Iceland did well to minimise his impact.
"To evaluate and characterise Lionel Messi's work is difficult because it was an uncomfortable match for him," he said, according to the BBC.
"Iceland played very defensively, blocking all spaces, but we did everything we could to win. Leo is very committed to Argentina."