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Lionel Messi started the match by delivering another soccer clinic. The Argentina superstar ended it sporting a bloodied top lip, shouting abuse to opponents and even blasting the referee.

And of course there were goals, too, for one of the greats of the game whose bid to win the World Cup for the first time is still on track.

Messi is heading to the semifinals with Argentina after a chaotic penalty-shootout victory over Netherlands that had just about everything on Friday.

Argentina took a 2-0 lead, conceded an equalizer in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time to send the match to extra time at 2-2, and then won the shootout 4-3 amid a deafening noise inside Lusail Stadium, Associated Press reported.

Messi, who scored a penalty in regulation time, converted his penalty in the shootout while goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez made two saves to help Argentina secure a semifinal match against Croatia, which beat Brazilearlier Friday.

After Lautaro Martinez scored the clinching penalty, Messi — with his arms outstretched — sprinted toward the goalkeeper, who had fallen to the ground to the side of the goal, and lay on top of him.

“We had to suffer,” Messi said, “but we got through.”

Messi did, especially, in an often violent match that featured 17 yellow cards — a record for a World Cup match — two of which went to Netherlands defender Denzel Dumfries, leading to him getting sent off after the game.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni called the game “ugly” and Messi was critical of the Spanish referee, Antonio Mateu, saying: “I don’t think he was up to the standard. He was very harmful for us.”

In a side of Messi rarely seen, he also broke off from his post-match interview on the field to shout abuse at the scorer of the Netherlands’ two goals, Wout Weghorst.

“What are you looking at, stupid?” Messi was heard saying.

Messi and his teammates hung around on the field for 20 minutes at the end, taking turns dancing and jumping up and down in front of Argentina’s celebrating, scarf-waving fans.

Messi said the late Diego Maradona was looking over the team.

“Diego is watching us from heaven,” Messi said of the former Argentina captain and coach who died two years ago. “He is pushing us. I hope it stays like that until the end.”

The slippery hips of Luka Modric wriggled away from danger. The laser-like precision of his passing — and the intelligence to control the tempo for long periods — were ever present, as is usual.

There was the customary adjustment of his hairband here, a tug of his captain’s armband there.

It was the full repertoire from one of soccer’s finest midfield maestros, and it all helped Croatia put an end to the dancing Brazilians and knock one of the biggest favorites out of the World Cup.

Modric and his teammates made it back into the semifinals at soccer’s biggest tournament on Friday, beating Brazil 4-2 in a penalty shootout after a 1-1 draw through extra time, Associated Press reported.

“It would be very difficult to find someone at the age of 37 with such performance, with such strength when he plays for Real Madrid and the national team and Luka Modric has proven his quality,” Croatia coach Zlatko Dalić said. “When he came to the World Cup people began writing him off and then he came back in his best light, on the top of his game and he brought Croatia into the semifinals.”

This Croatia team, four years after reaching the World Cup final and losing to France, keeps looking for a way to win.

The match at Education City Stadium was Croatia’s fourth draw in five matches in Qatar. The team hasn’t been the most thrilling to watch at this year’s tournament, but Dalić’s players produce some drama.

When Croatia substitute Bruno Petkovic equalized in the 117th minute, it was the team’s first shot on target. It came not long after Neymar had scored at the very end of the first half of extra time — moving him into a tie with Pele for the most goals scored for Brazil’s national team.

Naturally, Modric was central to the moment that turned the match on its head, showcasing his strength and composure to hold off a challenge from Casemiro before passing to Nikola Vlasic.

The ball was moved out wide to Mislav Orisic, and his cross was converted by Petkovic.

Fans of both teams were stunned.

Petkovic tore off his shirt in celebration before being mobbed by teammates on the field and from the bench. Croatia had succeeded in making it to a second straight penalty shootout after needing spot kicks to eliminate Japan in the round of 16.

Modric, of course, converted his penalty, as did his teammates. Rodrygo’s shot was saved by Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic, and Marquinhos later hit the post. Neymar wasn’t among the four Brazilians to take part in the shootout, according to Associated Press.

Of Croatia’s five shots on target in the match, including the four penalties in the shootout, the team scored five goals.

Neymar, who tied Pele’s record as his country’s leading scorer with 77 goals, couldn’t hold back the tears at the end. Rodrygo, Modric’s teammate at Real Madrid, was inconsolable, too.

A chant of “RONALDO! RONALDO!” swept around the biggest stadium at the World Cup, followed by loud jeers when the fans realized their idol wasn’t coming onto the field.

Cristiano Ronaldo was, in fact, sitting in the Portugal dugout, looking glum and still wearing a substitute’s bib. And the guy who started instead of him on Tuesday was about to complete a hat trick.

After Ronaldo was dropped from the starting lineup in a bold call by Portugal coach Fernando Santos, Goncalo Ramos — the superstar striker’s unlikely replacement — made himself an instant star by leading the team to a 6-1 win over Switzerland and into the World Cup quarterfinals.

Ramos, a 21-year-old forward who only made his Portugal debut last month, demonstrated the kind of clinical finishing for which Ronaldo was once known in scoring the first goal in the 17th minute and adding others in the 51st and 67th, Associated Press reported.

No player had scored a hat trick in his first World Cup start since Germany striker Miroslav Klose in 2002.

“Not even in my wildest dreams did I think about being part of the starting team for the knockout stage,” said Ramos, an unheralded striker who plays for Benfica and counts Ronaldo as his soccer idol along with Robert Lewandowski and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

It was around the hour mark that fans throughout the 89,000-seat Lusail Stadium started to implore Santos to bring on the 37-year-old Ronaldo, and they got their wish in the 72nd minute. Portugal had the game wrapped up by then, with defenders Pepe and Raphael Guerreiro also having scored. Rafael Leao added another goal in stoppage time.

Ronaldo didn’t score — he still hasn’t in the knockout stage in any of his five World Cups — and after briefly celebrating with his teammates following the final whistle, he walked off the field on his own, perhaps wondering where his career goes from here.

He is currently without a club after leaving Manchester United midway through the World Cup, and he might no longer be the starter for his country.

The rest of the Portugal team hung around to applaud its fans at one end of the stadium. A quarterfinal match awaits against Morocco on Saturday and Santos now has to decide whether to stick with Ramos or restore Ronaldo, the top scorer in men’s international soccer and one of the game’s greatest ever players, according to Associated Press.

Santos said it was a strategic decision to drop Ronaldo and not a disciplinary one, having expressed unhappiness during his eve-of-match news conference Monday at the striker’s attitude after he was substituted against South Korea in the team’s final group game.

“What we have to do is think about this team collectively,” Santos said, before talking about Ronaldo. “I will always consider he is a very important player to have in the team.”

That might now be a substitute and an experienced head in the locker room rather than a starter.

Ramos was a surprise replacement — he had previously only made three substitute appearances for Portugal — and took his chance.

Ramos, who was only 2 years old when Ronaldo made his Portugal debut in 2003, scored the first hat trick at this year’s World Cup.

He drove a rising shot with his left foot inside Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer’s near post for the first goal, flicked deftly through Sommer’s legs from close range for the second, and then ran through to chip the goalkeeper for his third.

Ronaldo was seen smiling while he was warming up on the side of the field after Ramos’ second goal.

“Cristiano, as our captain, did what he always does,” Ramos said. “He helped us and encouraged us, not only myself but my colleagues.”

Ramos even had an assist, playing the ball through for Guerreiro to score the fourth goal.

Ronaldo was lively when he came on and and even thought he had scored when he ran through and drove a low left-footed shot past Sommer. The goal was disallowed for offside, much to the irritation of the fans — Portuguese or from other countries — who had come to see him play, Associated Press reported.

Switzerland’s only goal came in the 57th minute when Manuel Akanji tapped in at the far post after a corner kick.

The first World Cup held in an Arab nation has produced the Arab world’s first quarterfinalist.

Morocco became only the fourth African country to reach the quarterfinals at the biggest soccer tournament in the world by beating Spain 3-0 in a penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw through extra time, Associated Press reported.

The Moroccans were playing in only their second knockout game at a World Cup, an event which is being held in the Middle East for the first time in its nearly 100-year history.

“Right now is a special moment for all Africa, for all the Arab countries, for all the Muslims around this world,” Morocco midfielder Azzedine Ounahi said. “You try to make them happy, try to make ourselves happy. And I think it goes quite well.”

The World Cup in Qatar is the first to be played in the Arab world and only the second to be held in Asia. The tournament began with one of the biggest upsets in history when Saudi Arabia beat two-time champion Argentina on the third day of action.

The Saudis were eliminated, as were host Qatar and Tunisia, in the group stage. That left Morocco as the Arab world’s standard bearer, according to Associated Press.

“I’m very proud of my fans, of my people and Arabic people,” said Morocco coach Walid Regragui, who is the first African to coach an African team to the quarterfinals. “Also because I think you have Qatari people here, maybe Algerian people, Tunisian people, Arabic people and African people.”

Achraf Hakimi, who was born in Madrid and previously played for Real Madrid, converted the deciding penalty in the shootout. Abdelhamid Sabiri and Hakim Ziyech, who returned to the national team after a dispute with the previous coach, also scored.

Morocco has been the biggest surprise of the tournament and will next face Portugal in the quarterfinals on Saturday.

Morocco, which has a complex geopolitical relationship with close neighbor Spain, advanced from a difficult group that included Canada, 2018 semifinalist Belgium, and 2018 runner-up Croatia.

The team came to the tournament with more than half of its squad filled with players who were not born in Morocco, the most of any of the 32 participating countries, Associated Press reported.

“Today I think it showed to the world every Moroccan is Moroccan with his passport,” Regragui said. “When he comes to the national team, you want to die, you want to fight. And that is what I want to show. And now, we have one example. The coach is born in France but nobody can have my heart but my country.”

The king of Morocco called to congratulate the team after the game.

Morocco, which also reached the round of 16 at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, is also the only team from outside Europe or South America to make it to the last eight in Qatar.

Cameroon, Senegal and Ghana are the only other African nations to reach the World Cup quarterfinals. None of the three advanced to the semifinals.

Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou, who plays for Spanish club Sevilla, saved two of the three penalties he faced in the shootout, from Carlos Soler and Sergio Busquets. Pablo Sarabia hit the post.

“We knew that if we went to the penalty shootout, we had one of the best goalkeepers in the world and we could win it,” said Regragui, who took over as coach of Morocco in August and had little time to prepare the team ahead of the World Cup.

Sarabia had entered the match in the final minutes of extra time, apparently for the shootout. He replaced Nico Williams, who had also come in as a substitute earlier in the match.

“It’s my responsibility,” said Spain coach Luis Enrique, who before the match said he had asked his players to practice 1,000 penalty kicks while with their clubs. “I picked the first three penalty-takers, and then they could decide themselves. But the first three were my decision, and I would’ve done the same thing again. The only thing I wished I could do was to take Bounou out and put another goalkeeper in there.”

Spain was eliminated by host Russia in a penalty shootout at the 2018 World Cup, and by Italy in the semifinals of last year’s European Championship. The team hasn’t advanced past the last 16 at the World Cup since it won the tournament in 2010 in South Africa, according to Associated Press.

“We were unable to score ... so no matter how much we say that we deserved to win for the chances we created and for playing more in their area, it is not going to change anything,” said Spain goalkeeper Unai Simón, who stopped one penalty in the shootout. “The only thing left for us is to accept that we have been eliminated.”

It was the fifth straight time Spain played extra time in a knockout round of a major tournament. The team played 120 minutes against Russia and in all three of its knockout games at Euro 2020.

Moroccan fans were significantly outnumbered by — and were louder than — the Spaniards at Education City Stadium.

It was the second match in the round of 16 to go into extra time at this year’s World Cup. Croatia beat Japan on penalties Monday.