Lionel Messi’s World Cup dream is still alive — and so is Argentina’s.

The world was treated to a World Cup classic on Saturday morning as the Netherlands came back from 2-0 down to force the game into extra time.

However, Argentina showed their class in the shoot-out to move through to a semi-final against Croatia.

Argentina appeared to be doing it easy as Messi helped them to a 2-0 lead with an early piece of wizardry.

It was a piece of Messi magic that delivered the opener, when the he drew defenders as only he can before delivering an expert through ball to Nahuel Molina.

Molina did the rest to put Argentina ahead 1-0 in the 35th minute.

Argentina's Nahuel Molina, centre, celebrates with Lionel Messi, right, after scoring the opening goal against the Netherlands. Photo / AP

“It’s the runs off Messi that weave the magic,” SBS commentator Martin Tyler said.

“And this one was absolutely perfect. And that’s the way to open up a defence of this calibre.

“Molina just had the pace to get there before van Dijk... a tight half has been busted open here and Messi is the architect.”

English football Gary Lineker posted on Twitter: “Argentina lead through Molina. How? Just how does Messi do this s***? Mind-blowingly brilliant”.

Messi joined Molina on the scoresheet in the 73rd minute when he converted a penalty.

Argentina's Lionel Messi celebrates victory. Photo / AP

But the Dutch gave their fans some hope when Wout Weghorst crushed a header into the net in the 83rd minute to make it 2-1.

Then, in the 11th minute of injury time, Weghorst scored again to send it to extra time. “That’s unbelievable,” Tyler said.

Argentina suddenly looked cooked.

Wout Weghorst of the Netherlands celebrates after scoring his side's second goal against Argentina. Photo / AP

Former England forward Chris Sutton told the BBC: “The players are shell-shocked”.

Journalist Andy Cryer also said from Education City Stadium: “The whole place seems so flat. There is just an air of disbelief”.

A BBC commentator called it “absolute bedlam”.

The match featured several fiery scenes between the Argentine and Dutch players. Photo / AP

This was certainly in reference to late drama which saw Argentina midfielder Leandro Paredes make a sliding tackle on Nathan Ake and before appearing to boot the ball into the Netherlands dug-out.

Virgil van Dijk ran in to remonstrate and knocked down Paredes, before both teams — including most of the bench — gathered for a bit of push-and-shove.

“Oh, goodness me,” Tyler said. “We’ve not seen anything like this in this World Cup. It’s kicked off here. Incidents right in front of the dugout. So many substitutes.”

Netherlands players react after their penalty shootout defeat to Argentina. Photo / AP

The teams could not be separated in the 30-minutes of extra time and both teams looked exhausted at the start of the shoot-out.

The Netherlands were killed off almost immediately at the start of the shoot-out as keeper Emiliano Martinez saved their first two attempts.

In the end Argentina finally finished it with a 4-3 win on penalties.

The game featured 17 yellow cards — a record for a World Cup game — including one for Messi, who had blood coming from his upper lip at one stage of an extra time that was dominated by Argentina.

Argentina will now play Croatia in the semifinals on Wednesday after the 2018 runners-up beat Brazil earlier on Saturday.