FOUR days after shedding tears of joy in Atlanta, Argentina players were crying tears of despair in New Jersey.

Their World Cup campaign, and almost certainly Lionel Messi‘s World Cup career, ended with a timid 1-0 defeat to Spain in extra-time.

Three shots – none in the regulation 90 minutes – and none of them on target.

Spain rained down 20 attempts on Emi Martinez’s goal and finally found the breakthrough when Ferran Torres lashed home in the 106th minute.

In their 2-1 semi-final win on Wednesday, Argentina rubbed both of their goals in England players’ faces.

They then posed with a flag which said: “The Faklands are Argentine”, exposing them to possible disciplinary action from Fifa.

So not many Three Lions fans will have been overcome with sympathy watching Messi sob from the final whistle to the trophy lift.

Neither will those who feel the Argentines got more than their fair share of leniency from referees – not least when Nico Williams’ goal in the final was disallowed for a dubious foul in the build-up.

The initial reaction to the defeat from some Argentina players was outright rage.

Leandro Paredes was shown a post-match straight red card for disgracefully striking Gavi in the face.

Others, including Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni, joined the tussle.

But the rage soon gave way to devastation.

Giuliano Simeone lay face-down on the turf sobbing.

Nahuel Molina lifted up the collar of his shirt to cover most of his face.

Messi shook hands with Lamine Yamal but was also seen wiping tears from his eyes while sat on the MetLife Stadium pitch, and then again as Spain stepped up to collect their reward.

Others joined him, sat there heartbroken as the reality set in.

They had the chance to cap off the greatest footballer of all time’s international career with back-to-back World Cups, but fell short.

And their heads were bowed after an ultra-conservative game plan that painfully backfired.