Messi produced another masterclass to inspire Argentina as they demolished Croatia 3-0 in the first semifinal of the Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday.
It was a perfect treat for the majority of Argentine supporters in the official capacity crowd of 88,966 at the Lusail Stadium.
Argentina moved up by two goals in the first half through a Lionel Messi penalty and a Julian Alvarez strike against an off-color Croatia.
In the second half, it was Messi again who stormed through the left flank to dribble past Croatian defenders and delivered a sharp cross to Alvarez. The striker slotted home his second goal of the night in the 69th minute to give Argentina an unassailable lead of 3-0.
During the first half, Argentina broke through Alvarez into the penalty box with only goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic to beat in the 31st minute. The Croatian keeper prevented the effort with a foul on Alvarez and Italian referee Daniele Orsato pointed to the penalty spot. Livakovic got a yellow in the process.
Captain Messi stepped on to take the penalty and made no mistake in putting Argentina in the lead.
The superstar’s left-footed shot gave no chance for Livakovic with the strong shot landing in the top right corner of the net as Argentina went 1-0 up in the 34th minute.
In the 37th minute, Croatia won a corner after a move by Borna Sosa. Luka Modric played it short and Brozovic’s weak cross was cleared by the Argentine defence and broke into a counter attack.
After winning the ball near their box, Argentina powered ahead on the heels of Messi. The captain found Alvarez who barged and bundled with the ball before slotting it home past a helpless Livakovic to make it 2-0.
In the 42nd minute, Argentina came close to scoring a third goal.
A good attack from Argentina earned them a corner. The curling corner was met with a slicing header by Brighton player Mac Allister but Livakovic pulled off a stunning save.
In the 25th minute, Enzo Fernandez had a crack at the Croatian goal only to miss the target by a short margin.
Earlier, Ivan Perisic’s effort failed to make an impact on Croatia.
Argentine defenders Cristian Romero and Nicolas Otamendi picked up yellow cards in an effort to block some Croatian attacks.
Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni substituted Leandro Paredes (69th minute) and Rodrigo De Paul (74th minute) and double goal-scorer Alvarez in the 74th minute.
Lisandro Martinez, Paulo Dybala, and Exequiel Palacios were brought in to reinforce the Argentine defense.
Croatian midfield great Modric, who had a quiet game, was substituted in the 80th minute.
Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic made some substitutions and they tried with some efforts at the Argentine penalty box but the defenders stood strong to deny Croatia.
