LUSAIL, Qatar – There stood Argentina goalkeeper Emi Martinez, bare-chested and stripped to the waist, arms hanging over his teammates’ shoulders, the whole gang bouncing on the pitch at the Lusail Stadium.

Progress into the World Cup semi-finals had just been secured after a nerve-racking penalty shoot-out with the Netherlands, which capped a clash that will go down as a tournament classic.

The Dutch had come back from 2-0 down – with an incredible 101st-minute equaliser – to force extra time, and eventually the spot-kick tie-breaker, in a tempestuous game that saw 18 yellow cards and one red flashed across the two sets of players and even coaches.

In the shoot-out, Martinez was the difference, denying Virgil van Dijk and Steven Berghuis.

Argentina missed a kick of their own through midfielder Enzo Fernandez but final kicker Lautaro Martinez buried his, to seal a 4-3 win for the South Americans.

As the Argentina players mobbed substitute striker Martinez after the winning kick, a brief scuffle broke out between the two teams’ players, and not for the first time on the night.

Near the end of the 90 minutes, Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes had moronically volleyed the ball towards the Netherlands bench, almost sparking a free-for-all. Even after the tie was decided, goalkeeper Martinez and Argentina’s brilliant skipper Lionel Messi were seen exchanging words with Dutch coach Louis van Gaal and his coaching staff, visibly unhappy.

Their frayed tempers showed just how emotionally absorbing this clash was.

Most of regulation time had been an exhibition of Messi’s unparallelled talent but the mood turned tense late on for the Argentina fans in the stadium – they made up most of the 88,235 who packed the stands – who feared the match would mark the end of their talisman’s dream of lifting the World Cup before he calls time on his career.

Earlier in the night, they had fawned over the 35-year-old magician. Palms open, arms outstretched, they bowed and chanted in unison, some even with tears in their eyes: “Messi! Messi! Messi!”

It was almost a gesture of admission that they felt they were not worthy of the genius he had displayed to pick open a disciplined Dutch defence for the opening goal in the 35th minute.

First, Messi executed a balletic, effortless 180-degree spin to shake off his marker Frenkie de Jong, then a feign to cross Dutch defender Nathan Ake’s legs, and finally an eye-of-the-needle pass for flying right wing-back Nahuel Molina to latch onto and open the scoring.

Messi then stamped his mark on the game directly by scoring in the 73rd minute from the penalty spot.

Up he stepped after Denzel Dumfries fouled Argentinian left wing-back Marcos Acuna inside the box.

Andries Noppert, the Dutch goalkeeper, tried to get into Messi’s head, crouching his 2.03m frame down to 1.69m Messi to rattle him.

Messi’s response was to turn Noppert’s feet into stone, wrong-footing the goalkeeper and leaving him rooted as the ball bulged the net.

Incredibly, this did not spell the end for the Dutch just yet.

Substitute Wout Weghorst launched his 1.97m frame to a cross and glanced in a goal in the 83rd minute.

But Argentina still looked like they had enough control to see out the tie even after 10 minutes were added on, an announcement which was hissed at by their passionate supporters.

But, in an unthinkable end, the Netherlands earned a free kick on the edge of the Argentina box.

Teun Koopmeiners, instead of shooting, slid the ball to Weghorst, who angled a low shot into goal to force the game to continue.

The time on the clock was 100min 30sec.

Argentinian thoughts, invariably, would have drifted to how fellow favourites Brazil were eliminated just hours earlier on penalties at the hands of Croatia, having also surrendered a lead.

And when they missed golden chances in extra time – including Fernandez’s low shot from distance which cracked the upright and went straight out – those fears heightened.

Until goalkeeper Martinez’s saves, and striker Martinez’s deciding kick.

“When Lautaro scored,” said Man-of-the-Match Messi at the post-match press conference later, “there was a huge joy and weight off our chest.”

But he admitted: “We didn’t have to go to extra time or penalties, we had to suffer. But we got through and it’s impressive.”

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said he felt his side showed their “personality” in the pulsating game, revealing that they had “too many” volunteers to take kicks in the shoot-out.

“It was a very strange second half, we controlled everything but, when you think everything is over, you can be surprised,” he said.

“But (our) team has experience and pride, and this is key.”

Messi, when asked if he thought the late Argentina great Diego Maradona – who led the team to the 1986 World Cup and died in November 2020 – was watching over the team, smiled and said: “Yes, we have been saying this from the beginning.

“Diego is watching us from heaven and pushing us. And I hope this will continue until the end.”

If the sensational win over the Dutch leads to a third World Cup for Argentina, what a divine end that would be.