Argentina 3-0 Croatia: Lionel Messi rolls back the years to lead his team into the World Cup final, with legend scoring the opener before his INCREDIBLE run set up Julian Alvarez's second goal of brace
- Argentina stormed into World Cup final after easily seeing off Croatia in Lusail
- Lionel Messi opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 34th minute
- Gary Neville in studio claimed it should not have been given as a spot kick
- Julian Alvarez doubled the advantage after an excellent run from Nahuel Molina
- But it was Messi's dazzling dribble for Alvarez's second goal that drew top praise
- Argentina will now play the winner of France vs Morocco in Sunday's final
- IAN HERBERT: Lionel Messi is the leader at last after becoming the 'little bull'
- Click here for the latest World Cup 2022 news, fixtures, live action and results
Josko Gvardiol is, according to many, the best defender at this World Cup. So here’s what happened after 69 minutes when he came up against Lionel Messi.
Gvardiol was beaten, outstripped, run ragged. Not once, not twice, but three times in the same mesmerising series of darts along the left flank. And Gvardiol is young; he’s 15 years Messi’s junior and his recruitment as a teenager by RB Leipzig is regarded as one of smartest pieces of business in Europe in recent seasons.
Yet in that moment, as Messi rolled back time, and rolled the ball to Julian Alvarez for Argentina’s third, the gap between the men seemed reversed. It was as if Messi was the younger athlete, full of confidence, brimming with arrogance and vim, it was as if Gvardiol was the old warhorse, led into battle one last time, unable to keep pace with his faster, fleeter, rival.
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When the move was over – and the ball in the net – Gvardiol carried on jogging across his own six yard box, helpless resignation in every step. One could almost hear his internal reckoning. ‘What was I supposed to do? You all saw him. Come on, fellas. What could I possibly have done?’
What could any of them done, really? Croatia are a resilient group, World Cup finalists in 2018 and conquerors of Brazil to reach here. Yet Messi, Alvarez and Argentina swept them aside after a cagey opening 30 minutes.
Alvarez, incredibly, the last Manchester City player left standing, scored twice and won the penalty that Messi converted, but it was Messi’s genius that will live long in the memory.
Just as his pass for the first goal against Holland in the previous round was that game’s outstanding moment, so that run, to secure Argentina’s place in a sixth World Cup final – only Germany have reached more – is destined to be the centrepiece of a thousand reviews. When future generations want to know how great Messi was, this is one of the goals that will be shown.
As for Gvardiol, nothing but sympathy really. The only reason he was beaten by Messi on three occasions was that he recovered to catch him up twice.
First time, Messi simply outpaced his man, with the ball stuck to his foot the way a magician might use Velcro to aid an illusion. Gvardiol came back at him, kept pace, but Messi did it again, getting the ball ever nearer the by-line.
Again, Gvardiol made it back into a sound defensive position, at which point Messi turned, retraced his steps, doubled back, flipped the switch on his tormented opponent, sped past again and cut the ball for Alvarez at the near post. It was a tap-in.
So: the assist of the tournament? That really doesn’t do it justice. An assist can be the simplest square pass, just as this was the simplest cut back in its final execution. What Messi did was more than assist, more than just a set-up. It was a moment of spectacular creation. It was the Big Bang of assists. Messi let there be light.
To think he had never scored a goal in a World Cup knockout game until coming to Qatar. To think after defeat by Saudi Arabia it was wondered if this was a challenge too far.
Argentina won this tournament in 1986 with a team claimed to be Diego Maradona plus ten others. Yet Maradona was 25 back then; Messi is ten years his senior now. It makes it even more remarkable that this may be his 1986.
Messi, the wizard who couldn’t score in a World Cup when it truly mattered, now has one in a last 16 match, a quarter-final and a semi-final. He has broken Gabriel Batistuta’s record of 11 World Cup goals for Argentina. He has five goals – the tournament’s joint top scorer – and four assists as his contribution to Argentina’s 12 goals so far.
A campaign that began with humiliation may end in triumph on Sunday back here in Lusail. Make no mistake, on this form, if Messi is ever to win a World Cup, it will be this one.
Croatia don’t score first in World Cup knock-out matches. Even so, by half-time, they looked stunned by developments even by their combative standards. Until Argentina went ahead, Croatia were marginally the superior side. They had the bulk of possession and Luka Modric was having more impact than Messi. Then, suddenly, they were two goals down.
Early on, there was a worry Messi might be injured. He appeared to be gingerly feeling a hamstring. He was walking a lot – although that is as much his trademark these days. He’s the greatest walking footballer in the world. It sent a shiver of panic around the Lusail Stadium that he might be stricken.
Messi’s World Cup destiny is one of this competition’s most compelling narratives. It may well be his last tournament despite coach Lionel Scaloni’s belief he could skip around the aging process like it was another hapless defender.
So there was relief when, after a brief period of uncertainty, the ball entered his vicinity and Messi sprinted after it. No problems there it seemed; or maybe he had simply had enough of watching his team, and the game, drift. Messi’s re-engagement coincided, as it so often does, with Argentina coming to life, too.
In the 25th minute, Alvarez tried a shot from outside the area which Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic scrambled across to save., At the other end, Ivan Perisic tried a chip which almost caught out Emiliano Martinez. And that was where Croatia’s problems begun.
They thought they should have had a corner, because Perisic’s clip took a deflection but Daniele Orsato, the Italian referee, gave a goal-kick. From that came the move that ended in the first goal. A pass by Enzo Fernandez put Alvarez clear and he was taken out by Livakovic as he tried to slip the ball around him.
Some felt it harsh because, frankly, what was the goalkeeper supposed to do? Jump out of the way? Yet had Alvarez been able to meet the ball on the other side he probably would have scored – but he couldn’t because he had been felled by Livakovic. At first, it wasn’t clear that Orsato hadn’t tried to play advantage – if so, that would have been embarrassing. In the end, justice was done. He gave the penalty, booked Livakovic for the foul and Chelsea’s Mateo Kovacic for arguing about it.
No argument about Messi’s penalty, though. It was the one Harry Kane attempted, without success, against France. Hard and high, but the right side of the crossbar, leaving Livakovic no chance. From their next attack, Argentina went further ahead.
What a goal this was. Manchester City have just one player remaining at this tournament – Tottenham have three, even West Ham have two – and he doesn’t get in their team, but what a World Cup Alvarez is having. When Marcelo Brozovic’s ball was cut out, it was Messi who put Alvarez away, and was brought down in the process. Orsato smartly played advantage, allowing Alvarez to run straight down the middle at the opposition, much as Michael Owen had against Argentina in 1998.
He got a couple of breaks, a first tackle that rebounded off him and only propelled the ball farther forward, and then a second completely missed by a panicked Borna Sosa. It left Alvarez running directly at Livakovic and he leathered the ball past the goalkeeper from close range. After the bitterness of the Holland win, here, then, was redemption. This was Argentina the beautiful, the deserving. Nobody can begrudge a team that plays like this. And Messi? Wow. Just wow.
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