Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi has told the team’s naysayers that nothing was handed to them on a platter. La Albiceleste qualified for their second consecutive World Cup final after beating England by 2-1 at Atlanta on Wednesday.

The defending champions had their backs against the wall against Three Lions but bounced back in the last few minutes to turn a corner. Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez scored for Lionel Scaloni’s team after Anthony Gordon scored the opener for England.

Meanwhile, many experts reckon that Argentina has been favored unfairly by FIFA in the ongoing World Cup.

Furthermore, the Swiss and Egyptian coaches criticized the refereeing after their teams were beaten by Argentina in knockout stages.

Switzerland’s Breel Embolo was given a second yellow card for simulation when the video was adjudged by VAR.

“We were punished because of a rule that in my opinion is completely unacceptable,” Swiss coach Murat Yakin said after the game. “It’s very painful that we were eliminated that way. I don’t think we deserve that today, and in my opinion, my boys are the real heroes.”

Messi said his team deserved to go to the finals as they have performed consistently.

“We’ve been the best over these past four years, either you like it or not, and no matter what anyone says,” Messi said after the win over England. “Once again, we’ve established ourselves among the top two teams in the world. That proves that everything we’ve done is no fluke and that nothing was handed to us.”

Messi hailed his team for reaching the second consecutive World Cup final.

“Reaching two consecutive World Cup finals is something very few achieve, and this group did it,” Messi said. “If we had lost to England, there would have been people coming out to spout some nonsense, but we didn’t give them the chance.”

Argentina will face Spain in the final at New Jersey on Sunday.