Copa America: Lionel Messi shows his aggressive side during penalty shootout against Colombia - WATCH

Argentina On Wednesday (July 7) hold onto their nerves till the very end to see off Colombia 3-2 on penalties to reach their third Copa America Final in a span of five years. The match ended 1-1 in regulation time, with Inter Milan striker Lautaro Martinez opening the scoring in the first half before it was cancelled out by Porto winger, Luis Diaz, midway to the second half. Aston Villa custodian, Emiliano Martinez was the hero during the shoot-out as he made three important saves to book a place in the Final with arch-rivals Brazil.

A video is making the rounds in social media, recording Lionel Messi’s animated and passionate reaction during the nerve-wracking penalty shoot-out against the Los Cafeteros.

In the video, it is visible how the Barcelona and Argentina all-time top scorer kept his composure to slot it past David Ospina and soon after that he embraces his team’s keeper Martinez and encouraged him to give his best.

The Copa America all-time assist provider was seen cheering his teammates and also the team’s taker, every time an Argentina penalty was converted. Udinese’s Rodrigo de Paul was the only Argentine to sky his shot over the bar. Even after the miss, Messi was seen patting de Paul and comforting him, showing how much the 2014 World Cup Golden Ball winner cares about his mates.

Messi was highly criticized in past competitions, that he lacks passion while playing for his country as he fails to emulate his Barcelona performance in La Albiceleste colours. He was also criticized for not even singing the National anthem before the matches. But in the ongoing Copa America, we have seen how emotional he is for his country and this video is a perfect testament to it.

This will be Argentine’s 5th major international final. Previously he has ended up being on the runners-up side in 2007, 2015, 2016 Copa Finals and a World Cup Final in 2014. He has come so close on a number of occasions to touch the gold and on Sunday, he gets another chance to silence his critics. In the ongoing Copa America, he has scored 4 goals in 6 matches with 5 assists also to his name, making him the Golden Boot and Best Player contender at the same time.

Argentina have faced a total of 10 times in the Copa America Final, with the two-times World Cup winner winning on 8 occasions. The last time they met Brazil in the final, was way back in 2007, where the Selecaos trounced their bitter rivals by 3-0.