Argentina vs. Switzerland: Head-to-head record and past meetings

Vying for a place in the World Cup semi-finals, Argentina and Switzerland will meet in Kansas City for their quarter-final clash on Saturday evening.

To date, the South American side have dominated their European counterparts in prior meetings, including a couple of contests at FIFA's top tournament.

Here, Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at the nations' head-to-head record.

Head-to-head record

Previous meetings: 7

Argentina wins: 5

Draws: 2

Switzerland wins: 0

These teams most recently faced off at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, when it took an extra-time winner from Angel Di Maria to finally separate them.

Argentina ultimately prevailed after a tense last-16 tie in Sao Paulo, having failed to make a breakthrough despite dominating possession in normal time.

With the spectre of penalties looming, Di Maria swept home Lionel Messi's pass to book a date with Belgium in the quarter-finals; La Albiceleste would also win that tie but eventually lost to Germany in the final.

Between then and their first World Cup clash - which took place some 48 years earlier - came five friendlies, which produced three Argentinian wins and a couple of draws.

Summing up the gulf in stature between the pair in pure football terms, the aggregate scoreline over that sequence read 12-3 in the Argentines' favour.

Most notable was a 2012 fixture in Bern, which seemed bound for a draw after Xherdan Shaqiri cancelled out Messi's opener. Yet, the latter then scored twice late on to secure victory - it was his first hat-trick in the famous national team jersey.

Long before Messi - or even Diego Maradona - lit up a major tournament, it was way back at the 1966 World Cup that these nations first met.

Argentina won 2-0 at Sheffield's Hillsbrough Stadium thanks to goals from Luis Artime and Ermindo Onega, but they would later lose to tournament hosts England in a notoriously bad-tempered quarter-final.