Thursday, July 16th 2026
In another classic match, Argentina secured a place in the World Cup’s grand final after a dramatic 2-1 win over England. However, apart from the celebrations on the pitch and the historic comeback, the main story of the world media became an incredible and comical detail recorded immediately after the referee’s final whistle.
While the English were mourning, the Argentine national team found a bottle belonging to the England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford on the pitch and revealed a carefully guarded secret on it, which was to be used in case of penalty kicks. penalties.
As part of his detailed preparation for potential penalty kicks, Jordan Pickford had a detailed guide in his bottle with instructions on how Argentina’s penalty takers take penalties.
The list includes the names of top Argentine stars such as Lautaro Martinez, Julian Alvarez, Enzo Fernandez and Lionel Messi. Each name was accompanied by precise instructions for the goalkeeper (eg “shoot left – shoot right”, “stay in the center”).
Lionel Messi and the Argentine players looking at Pickford’s water bottle which had notes of where they would shoot their penalty kicks. Wait for Messi’s reaction. 😭😭pic.twitter.com/jNqeEr3Kdg
Cameras caught the moment when Nico Gonzalez, Messi and defender Marcos Senesi studied the bottle in detail. Lip readers quickly deciphered their dialogue, which immediately went viral:
Nico Gonzalez: “Look what I found. There are notes for Lautaro, Julian…”.
Member of the coaching staff: “Yes, all the players are there”.
Lionel Messi: “What?! But what do those notes mean?”.
Member of the coaching staff: “Senesi, read it… You speak English”.
Marcos Senesi: “It says where the goalkeeper should throw from…”.
Lionel Messi: “You mean the goalkeeper (Pickford)?”.
Marcos Senesi: “Yes. For you, Leo, it is said: ‘pretend to go to the left, but throw to the right'”.
Lionel Messi (with a surprised smile): “The goalkeeper really studied the details how do I shoot penalties…”.
🚨 𝗘𝒴: Lip readers have deciphered the CONVERSATION between Leo Messi, Nico González, Senesi and a member of Argentina’s staff after they found Jordan Pickford’s water bottle with a penalty taker list ahead of a potential penalty shootout in the World Cup semi-final against… pic.twitter.com/l6qKUMWjhF
Even though in the end the draw for penalties did not happen, because Argentina settled the match in regular time after a turnover, the Argentine captain recalled after the match the rivalry and pressure that accompanied this epic duel.
“If we had lost to England, we knew that some people would have been eager to talk nonsense, but we did not give them that chance. We also knew that, when it comes to football, we are simply a better team than England,” said Messi. /Telegraph/
Source: prizrenpost
