Lionel Messi hailed a ‘wonderful moment’ after his late winner brought Iran to their knees and sent Argentina to the last 16.

The Barcelona star had endured, along with his team-mates, a frustrating afternoon thanks in part to a heroic Iranian rearguard display. But just when it mattered most, the four-time world player of the year scored a stunning winner.

“It’s was a difficult game, they were able to close us down at the back and it was very difficult to find space. It was very hot too,” said Messi. “But we still had many opportunities in the first half, they had some in the second half too. Now we’re qualified and that was our objective today.

“As soon as I got the ball at the end we were all in attack because we wanted to put Argentina through with a win. Obviously I was very happy with the strike.

“Then I heard people screaming and smiling and it was a wonderful moment of course. I don’t think they were marking just me, they were marking all of us. The last two matches have been like this, both teams are very defensive, they’ve been marking us well and me and Di Maria couldn’t create any spaces.

“If we analyse all the matches we might say that maybe we can play even better but I think as we go along we’ll be able to improve, we’ll reach our real potential and we know we’re not playing as well as expected.

“But it’s very difficult when the other side defends so well, it was difficult to create space.

“If we hadn’t won, the game against Nigeria would have been different. We know it’ll be hard and we must keep improving.”

There was only heartache for Iran manager Carlos Quieroz who was adamant his men should have had a penalty in the second half when Ashkan Dejagah was hauled down in the area by Pablo Zabaleta.

Iran are still alive though ahead of their meeting with Bosnia on Wednesday and the former Manchester United assistant manager said: “It happened exactly as I expected. They held the ball, passed it but our concentration was very good. At the end of the day we saw a very emotional ending.

“We created a couple of chances, of course Argentina as well, but at the end of the day two personalities make the difference. They got the goal, coming from the great personality. Messi. A brilliant strike.

“But the second personality was the referee, because there was a clear penalty, a clear penalty.”