Lionel Messi’s bid to win the World Cup got off to a nightmare start as he missed a penalty and his Argentina side were surprisingly held 1-all by debutants Iceland.

BBC Sports reports Messi was looking to match the impact his old rival Cristiano Ronaldo has made on the tournament – a sensational hat-trick against Spain on Friday night.

But instead of being the hero, Messi was the villain as his second-half spot-kick was easily saved by Hannes Halldorsson with the score at 1-1.

Argentinian coach Jorge Sampaoli says they did whatever they could to win the match but unfortunately Iceland was too defensive.

“Iceland was playing very defensively, blocking all the possible places but we did everything we could but we did play well and we need to step up.”

Iceland Goalkeeper Hannes Halldorsson says they played according to their game plan.

“Our game plan worked really well and we could feel it right in the first half as the game was played the way we wanted.”

Meanwhile, in other matches, Denmark beat Peru 1-nil while Frace beat Australia 2-1.

Croatia will play Nigeria at 7am.

You can watch the match live on FBC TV.