The world has seen another Messi magic during the match against Croatia at the Lusail Iconic Stadium. Lionel Messi showed his class once again in this match to send Argentina into the final of the world cup. Last night, the Albiceleste defeated Croatia by a 3-0 margin to eliminate them from the semifinal. However, Croatia beat Argentina in the 2018 World Cup, and the Albiceleste took revenge last night, scoring the same goals[3].
As it happened
Argentina faced Croatia last night to play in the first semifinal. Argentina’s manager Lionel Scaloni again changed the formation. He set up the team formation with 4-4-2, where Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez played in the front. Marcos Acuna was suspended in this match. So Tagliafico replaced him in the right-back position. On the other hand, Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic played his team in a 4-3-3 formation.
From the beginning of the match, Croatia tried to take control. They kept more possession on the ball in the first 20 minutes. But eventually, Argentina became stable and made some counter-attacks. In the 32nd minute, Croatian goalkeeper Livakovic fouled Julian Alvarez inside the box to stop the counter-attack. The match referee, therefore, gave a penalty kick to Argentina. So, captain Messi stepped forward to take the kick and made no mistake. This goal makes Lionel Messi the top scorer so far, the same as Kylian Mbappe scored (5).
However, Argentina became more aggressive after scoring the goal. They doubled their lead within five minutes as Julian Alvarez scored a brilliant goal for the Albiceleste. The Man City striker carried the ball from his own half and then defeated Livakovic to find the net in the 39th minute.
After that, Croatia tried hard to return one. But they couldn’t make an organized attack in the 1st half. The first half ended with Argentina leading 2-0.
Returning from the break, Argentina created more pressure on Croatia. They kept pressing the opponent highly. In the 69th minute, Lionel Messi produced a moment of magic. He fooled Croatian defender Gvardiol with unbelievable dribbling and sent the ball to Alvarez’s plate. Julian Alvarez didn’t miss the opportunity and scored his 2nd and the team’s third goals. However, Croatia couldn’t score a goal in the remaining minutes. Thus, Argentina have qualified for the final of the FIFA World Cup.