Messi and Argentina react after finding Pickford’s World Cup penalty cheat sheet

For a few minutes in England ’s World Cup semi-final against Argentina the tie looked to be heading towards extra time and potentially penalties, as Enzo Fernandez equalised late in the second half to cancel out Anthony Gordon’s opener. Extra time and a shootout never materialised as Lautaro Martinez scored the winner for the reigning champions in injury time, booking a final against European champions Spain. The bitter 2-1 defeat means England will play 2022 finalists France in Saturday’s third-place play-off. As Argentina celebrated their victory, masterminded by captain and talisman Lionel Messi , who provided both assists, the players appeared to discover England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford ’s water bottle - and his plans should the game have gone to penalties. Footage shows the Argentina squad surrounding the bottle - which the Everton keeper had discarded as England left the pitch - and reading notes Pickford had made for how each Argentina player was likely to take a penalty, and how to react. ⚠️🍶 Pickford’s penalty list leaked on a bottle on pitch side. pic.twitter.com/rQmH9AETIL — Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 16, 2026 Images of the penalty instructions also circulated on social media, with Argentina’s fitness coach Luis Martin reportedly among those to circulate them, although his post now appears to have been deleted. Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates with teammates after their second goal during the World Cup semi-final win over England (AP) The image shows detailed notes for how to react to a penalty taken by each one of Argentina’s squad. Pickford planned to “fake left - dive right” for Messi’s penalty, “dive left” for Julian Alvarez and “dive right” for goalscorer Martinez and simply “stand central” for Fernandez. Fernandez, Messi, Nicolas Gonzalez and Marcos Senesi studied the instructions and were visibly amused by what they read. Chelsea’s Fernandez raised his eyebrows and pointed to the heavens after reading that Pickford planned to stop dead centre in the goal to stop his spot-kick. The information may prove useful to Spain, who face the defending champions in Sunday’s final and will be prepared for the possibility of a shootout to decide the trophy.