Messi and Argentina find Pickford's penalty cheat sheet after knocking England out

Argentina’s players stumbled upon an unexpected souvenir after beating England 2-1 in their World Cup semi-final: Jordan Pickford’s discarded water bottle, complete with handwritten notes detailing how he planned to save penalties from each member of the Argentina squad.

Lautaro Martinez’s injury-time winner — his second goal of the match — settled the tie before a shootout was needed, but footage circulating on social media showed Enzo Fernandez, Lionel Messi, Nicolas Gonzalez and Marcos Senesi crowding around the bottle Pickford had left behind as England exited the pitch. The group were visibly amused by what they read.

The notes were detailed. Pickford had planned to “fake left — dive right” for Messi, “dive left” for Julian Alvarez, “dive right” for Martinez, and simply “stand central” to stop Fernandez. It was that last instruction that prompted Chelsea midfielder Fernandez to raise his eyebrows and point to the heavens.

Images of the penalty sheet spread widely on social media. Argentina’s fitness coach Luis Martin was among those reported to have shared the image, though his post subsequently appeared to have been deleted.

The semi-final itself had been a tense affair. Anthony Gordon’s opener gave England hope, only for Fernandez to equalise late in the second half and force the game into its final moments. Martinez then struck in stoppage time to send the reigning champions through to a final against European champions Spain.

England, meanwhile, must regroup for Saturday’s third-place play-off against 2022 finalists France.

Messi, who provided both assists in the victory, once again proved the decisive influence for Argentina. The information contained in Pickford’s notes may yet have a second life — Spain, who face Argentina in Sunday’s final, will now be aware of how Pickford mapped out the Argentina squad’s penalty tendencies, should their own potential shootout planning benefit from it.