Lionel Messi rolled back the years as he scored in a World Cup elimination game for the first time in Argentina’s 2-1 victory over Australia on Saturday night.

Now he has a chance at another first: Messi has never lifted the World Cup trophy.

The dream is still distant but Messi believes, and so does his legion of fans. Messi darted through the Australian defence at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on Saturday night and it still seems possible.

For 90 minutes, Messi, 35, looked like the Messi who made his World Cup debut at 18 and has torn through club opponents across Europe for decades.

Argentina will now meet Netherlands in the quarter finals, a much more difficult opponent. A potential matchup with Brazil looms after that for a place in the final.

Messi hopes his last act on the World Cup stage comes after he clears several more immediate hurdles. “I’m very happy for taking another step forward and achieving another objective. It was a very physical and difficult match,” Messi said, then alluding to the fact that Argentina’s final group stage game was three days before. “We had played recently and didn’t have much time to rest. We were a little concerned about that.”

So much about this era of Argentina’s World Cup history has revolved around Messi, who, on Saturday, made his 1,000th appearance for club and country. Even with so much mileage on his legs, his skill still sparkled against Australia.

Toward the end of the first half, Argentina midfielder Alexis Mac Allister flicked a pass to Nicolás Otamendi in the penalty area. In a slick give-and-go, Otamendi astutely stopped and left the ball to Messi, who took one dribble and fired a shot through the legs of an Australian defender and into the lower left corner of the net.

It was the ninth goal in 23 World Cup games for Messi — who has appeared in every edition of the tournament since 2006 — but his first goal in a knockout-round game.

“Impressive,” forward Julián Álvarez, who scored the second goal, said in Spanish of Messi. “Not just the goal but his performance during the entire game and the last minutes were important, too. It doesn’t surprise us. We know Leo and we’ll always do our best to support him.”

Even when Messi didn’t score — his scampering run through the Australian defence in the 65th minute ended in a corner kick, and more cheers — fans in the stands bowed to him.

And he inspires his juniors, like Álvarez.

From being the understudy to Erling Haaland in his first year at Manchester City to being the sidekick to Messi, Álvarez is learning from the biggest stars in football.

Two starts, two goals. How about that for your first World Cup?

The 22-year-old is living out his dream: playing alongside Messi.

“A huge joy,” Álvarez said after Argentina’s 2-1 win. “We are going to go down this path to continue making Argentines happy.”

Álvarez has profited from fellow striker Lautaro Martínez’s failure to establish himself as the starting centre-forward for Argentina.

Tap-ins, curlers, link-up play, intense pressing. It’s no wonder City manager Pep Guardiola rates Álvarez highly enough to make him the second striker in his squad to Haaland.

Álvarez now wishes to seal Messi’s legacy. “We will always give our best and support him (Messi) to continue on this path,” Álvarez said.

Written with inputs from New York Times News Service and AP/PTI