After a shocking 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia, Lionel Messi does understand that his side has to make a strong comeback in their next two matches against Mexico and Poland, respectively. Otherwise, the Albeiceleste may well be out of the tournament after the first round. The Argentine captain expects a strong reaction from the players after such an unexpected result. Speaking to an Argentine television channel, Todo Noticias, Lionel Messi said.  Read more: Qatar World Cup: Saudi Arabia's stunning victory end Argentina's 36-match winning streak "Obviously we have to win or win now. It's up to us to fix what we did wrong and get back to the basics of who we are." "We're OK, obviously hurt by the result, very bitter." But people must trust that this team will not let them down, and we are going to go for it in the next two games. We've played games of this nature before, and we're going to perform well. "Now's the time to be more united than ever, to show how truly strong we are." Though Lionel Messi wasn't surprised by the threat from a much lower-ranked team, Saudi Arabia. He also mentioned that the current group of players hasn't faced this kind of situation as Saudi Arabia ended their 36-match unbeaten streak in this match. "We knew they were a team who would play if we let them... "They did not surprise us; we knew they could do that." Read more: World Cup stunner: Saudi Arabia beat Messi’s Argentina 2-1 "It's a situation that this group of players has never been through; it's been a while since we suffered such a tough blow, we didn't expect to start like this," Messi said while speaking to an Argentinian TV channel after the match. Argentina will only have four days to recover from this shocking result before facing Mexico on November 27 and Poland on December 1.

Argentina were considered heavy favourites to win their opening match of the Qatar World Cup against Saudi Arabia and equal Italy's 37-match unbeaten record. However, things didn't pan out as expected, particularly for the Argentine side in the second half. They conceded two goals in quick succession and lost the contest to Saudi Arabia 2-1, ending their 36-match winning streak. Read More: Qatar World Cup: Messi scores as Argentina take 1-0 lead against Saudi Arabia The Argentine defence was a bit casual at the start of the second half; they seemed to not be taking the Saudi Arabian side too seriously and eventually paid the price. Saleh Al Shehri found the net in the right bottom corner after cutting through the left side of the D-box. With his goal, Saudi Arabia cut the lead to 1-1 in the 48th minute. Five minutes later, Salem Al Dawsari's right-footed thunderbolt shot stunned the Argentine crowd at the Lusail Stadium. The Argentine campaign was in complete disbelief. Argentina after that tried to find the net by putting pressure on the opposition half, and they were close to scoring a number of times but remained unsuccessful. Read More: Qatar World Cup: Off-sides frustrate Argentina, settle for 1-0 at the end of the first half  Earlier, Argentina took a 1-0 lead in the 10th minute of the first half. Lionel Messi scored a penalty for his team. At the same time, they also saw two goals disallowed due to offsides. Argentina continued to put pressure on the Saudi Arabian defense and tried to create attacks from behind. But the Saudi Arabian defenders were focusing on high-line defense, which caused problems for the Argentine forwards. Read More: France vs Australia FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 LIVE Streaming: Where and how to watch online and on TV Channel, predicted XI Argentina will now be under huge pressure to put on a strong display against Mexico after ending their 36-match unbeaten run in their opening match of the Qatar World Cup. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia's magnificent victory will give them a realistic chance to move on to the Round of 16.