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Argentina 3-0 Croatia - 13/12/2022 - Match Report

Goals: Messi (34’ pen) Alvarez 39’, 69’)

Assists: Messi (69’)

Lionel Messi shines as he leads Argentina to their sixth World Cup final as they eased past Croatia at the Lusail Stadium.

In most likely his final World Cup, Messi has the chance to secure the one trophy that has evaded him in his illustrious career so far. With a big hand from Manchester City striker Julian Alvarez and the rest of the Argentinian supporting cast, eyes will turn to the France vs Morocco game to decide who Argentina will face in the final.

The first half an hour of the game produced little action to write home about. Then it suddenly burst to life with a defence-splitting long ball from Enzo Fernandez that played in Alvarez. The Argentinian latched onto the ball whilst Dominik Livakovic, the Croatian goalkeeper, managed only to clatter into the striker. The resulting penalty was dispatched by Messi into the top corner with ethereal confidence against a goalkeeper who has made a name for himself as quite the penalty specialist.

Five minutes later, a solo surge by Alvarez from his own half ended up making its way into the Croatian box. Like a bull in a china shop, Alvarez barged past two Croatian defenders with some fortunate bounces and touched a volley past a helpless Livakovic. As the game reached half time, there was the familiar feeling of Argentina holding a 2-0 lead.

Any notion of a Croatian comeback was quashed in the 69th minute, however, as Alvarez doubled his tally. The man he can thank was once again Messi, as the little magician tuned Josko Gvardiol inside out with a slaloming run down the right. He eventually burst past the defender into the box and cut the ball back for a simple finish for Alvarez.

The last 20 minutes flew by with little threat from either team and the most notable action was Luka Modric being substituted off which gave him his farewell on the big stage. In the end, the game ended 3-0 to the South Americans and they now look like a completely different team to the one that lost against Saudi Arabia in their opening game.

Can Messi finally claim his World Cup crown in Qatar? Who knows. What we certainly do know, however, is that will be a box office event come the 18th December.

Written by Daniel Morgan