Argentina 3-0 Croatia: The little magician sends Argentina into the final

A vintage Lionel Messi performance saw Argentina progress to the World Cup Final on Sunday as he and his teammates beat Croatia 3-0.

Whether you think he’s the best player of all time, any spectator would be in awe of the little magician’s performance tonight. Every pass, touch and shot was perfect as the diminutive genius looked at the peak of his powers.

A goal from Messi and two from Julian Álvarez cemented La Selección’s place in the final on Sunday.

The opening of the game was cagey. Both sides clearly understood the enormity of the situation. If they lost, the two team’s star players, Messi and Luka Modric, would be playing their last games at the World Cup.

So much so that the first shot on target for either side was a tame effort from Alvarez from 25 yards after more than 20 minutes of play.

However, the deadlock would eventually be broken after 34 minutes.

A run from deep and a lofted through ball, along with some pretty shoddy defending, saw Alvarez one-on-one with the goalkeeper Dominik Livaković.

The striker dinked the ball past the keeper, and Livaković scythed Álvarez down as a result. The resulting penalty was smashed into the roof of the net by Messi, and Argentina hit the front.

The next goal came soon after through Álvarez.

The man they call ‘the spider’ picked the ball up in his own half and drove at the Croatian defence that was being dragged this way and that by the off that ball movement of his teammates.

The 22-year-old was a bit fortunate as he evaded the challenges of Joško Gvardiol and Borna Sosa, but the ball fell for him in the box, and he chipped it over a helpless Livaković.

Croatia made two changes at half. Nikola Vlašić and Mislav Oršić were on in an attempt to get back in the game.

They had to stretch out and try and get goals back, which only resulted in their further undoing.

Although to be fair to Croatian manager Zlatko Dalić, Argentina’s third goal was probably unavoidable.

The little magician made Gvardiol, arguably the best centre-back at the tournament so far, look like he should be playing in the u18s.

Messi dribbled from the halfway line into the box in the way that only he can do and dragged the ball back to Álvarez, who could not miss, standing unmarked in the six-yard box.

A tame final 20 minutes saw the game come to a close and gave arguably the world’s best-ever footballer a chance for glory on Sunday.