Argentina dealt with Croatia by 3-0 in the first semifinal of the ongoing Fifa World cup in Qatar.
Lionel Messi gave Argentina the lead from the penalty spot after Manchester City’s striker was brought down in the penalty box. That would only be the beginning for the Croats as Julian Alvarez will later go on to score a brace to inflict Croatia’s loss in a knockout game at the World cup since the 2018 Fifa World cup.
It was a night when Lionel Messi didn’t have to be at his mercurial best, no thanks to Julian Alvarez who has now netted 7 goals for the Albiceleste with 4 of them coming at this World cup.
The overreliance on Messi has been one of the criticisms of Argentina over the years and they have done nothing to take away the criticism since the inception of this World cup.
Despite Alvarez’s brace, Messi still had to score from the penalty spot and assist another goal to ease his side to victory. Argentines will now be hopeful that Messi can take them to the Holy grail on Sunday when they take on the victor between France and Morocco.
The Croats have done well to get to this stage but they have ridden their luck far too much and it was only a matter of time before they ran out of luck. They haven’t won a knockout game at the World cup since the 2018 World cup in Russia, taking all games to penalties before tonight’s encounter.
It must also have been one of their master plans for this encounter but Lionel Messi and his colleagues had other plans. Croatia will now have to contend for the 3rd best team in a third-place play-off against the loser between France and Morocco.
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