Lionel Messi praised Argentina's spirit and willpower, saying they "strengthened" after he missed a critical penalty to secure their 2-0 World Cup victory over Poland.

After Wojciech Szczesny saved Messi's penalty kick, Lionel Scaloni's team advanced as the Group C champions thanks to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Julian Alvarez in the second half.

La Albiceleste, who lost their opening game 2-1 to Saudi Arabia, have advanced to the World Cup knockout rounds for the 13th time in their last 14 outings. On Sunday, they will face Group D runners-up Australia.

"The team came out strengthened after that mistake of mine," said Messi, who surpassed Diego Maradona in playing the most World Cup games for Argentina (22).

"We knew that once the first goal went in it was going to change the game. The previous game gave us a lot of peace of mind and we went out on the pitch thinking we should win.

"The game with Australia is going to be very difficult. Anyone beats anyone, everything is very even. We have to prepare for the game in the best way we always do.

"We must be calm and go game by game. Now, another World Cup starts, and hopefully we can continue to maintain what we did today."

Nicolas Otamendi concurred: "This is a team that strengthens under pressure, it was demonstrated. Today we had a final, and we never lost focus."

#Qatar2022

🔝 @alemacallister fue elegido el jugador del partido 👏🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/FUeHv4aZKj

— Selección Argentina 🇦🇷 (@Argentina) November 30, 2022

Rodrigo De Paul praised the team's "personality," but Mac Allister thinks the performance will give them more confidence going into the knockout rounds.

"I think today was a great team game, and that gives us a lot of confidence for what's coming," he said.

"It was a convincing performance. We look for the goal at all times. I think we went back to being the team we used to be. We handled the ball more, we had peace of mind, and we didn't despair. We played well collectively. It fills us with confidence."