Lionel Messi leads Argentina to FIFA World Cup final with 3-0 win over Croatia in Qatar semifinal

Lionel Messi has opened the scoring with a penalty and set up the game-sealing goal as Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 in their FIFA World Cup semifinal in Qatar.

It sends the South American side to its second final in the past three men’s World Cups, and its sixth overall, with victories in 1978 and 1986, and runner-up finishes in 1930, 1990 and 2014.

Messi’s side was electric in attack against Croatia at the Lusail Stadium, with 22-year-old Julián Álvarez scoring two goals and drawing the penalty that allowed Messi to net the opener in the 34th minute.

Messi’s penalty was his 11th goal in World Cup matches, taking him past Gabriel Batistuta to outright first place on Argentina’s list.

He also equalled German Lothar Matthäus’s record for the most matches played, with the final set to be his record-breaking 26th.

Of some concern for Argentina is Messi’s left hamstring, which he was poking and prodding at various points in the match, but if his performance in the semifinal is anything to go by, he can still put on a masterful outing.

After the first half-hour was an arm-wrestle, with Croatia creating more chances, Argentina took over from there and it was Messi’s gravitational pull that created the opening.

So drawn to Messi was Croatia defender Joško Gvardiol that it created space behind him for Álvarez, who was found brilliantly by an Enzo Fernández long ball.

Isolated against the onrushing Álvarez, Croatia goalkeeper Dominik Livaković had little choice but to charge off his line to try to smother the attack, but the ball was nudged to the side and Livaković clattered into the Argentinian attacker, leading to a yellow card and a penalty.

Messi stepped to the spot and rifled a ball high and right past Livaković, who could not emulate his heroics from the past two Croatian victories, both via penalty shootout.

Croatia’s desperation for an equaliser cost them dearly when Marcelo Brozović’s attempted cross was deflected by Álvarez into the path of Messi, who gave the ball back to his attacking partner near halfway.

The Manchester City star then stormed upfield and got some fortunate ricochets off defenders Josip Juranović and Borna Sosa in the box, and he managed to just poke the ball past Livakovic for a sensational solo goal.

Substitutions in defence and attack at half-time did little to stop Argentina’s onslaught, and the faltering Croatian dam broke completely in the 69th minute when Messi and Álvarez combined brilliantly once more.

Álvarez fed his captain the ball near the sideline and Messi snuck past Gvardiol, breaking down the right wing and flying to the edge of the 18-yard box.

He propped, turned and turned again, reaching the byline before poking a ball to a waiting Álvarez, who slotted home first time to put the result beyond doubt.

Argentina awaits the winner of the second semifinal, between Morocco and reigning champions France, which will be played on Thursday morning AEDT.

ABC