New Delhi: Argentina captained by Lionel Messi has confirmed their place in the final of FIFA World Cup 2022. Argentina beat last-placed runners-up Croatia 3-0 in a semi-final match played late on Tuesday night (December 13) at Lusail Stadium. Argentina will now face the winner of the second semi-final between France/Morocco in the final on December 18.
Lionel Messi did magic
Captain Lionel Messi was the hero of the Argentine team’s victory in this match. Messi, who may be playing his last World Cup, proved once again why he is counted among the world’s greatest players with his superb performance in this match. Along with scoring a penalty in the match, Messi also assisted in Julian Alvarez’s goal.
This assist by Lionel Messi in the 69th minute is considered to be the best assist in the history of the Football World Cup. Messi went close to the penalty area after provoking Croatian player Josko Guardiol. He then passed to his teammate Julian Alvarez, who made no mistake in scoring. His video is becoming very viral on social media.
Julian Alvarez scored two goals
In order to eliminate the dominance of Croatian players like Luka Modric, Ivan Perisic, Mat Kovacic in the midfield, the Argentine team went with a 4-4-2 formation in this semi-final match. Croatia were definitely ahead in terms of ball position throughout the match, but Argentina were ahead in scoring, scoring two goals in the first half and one in the second half.
- 1 goal (34th minute): Lionel Messi scored this goal on penalty
- 2 goals (34th minute): Julian Alvarez scored this goal
- 3 goals (69th minute): Julian Alvarez’s goal from Lionel Messi’s pass
Lionel Messi scored a goal in this match, making his total 5 goals in the current tournament. Before this, Messi also scored one goal each against Saudi Arabia, Mexico, Australia and Netherlands. If seen, Messi and Kylian Mbappe both lead the ‘Golden Boot’ race with 5 goals each. However, Mbappe also has a semi-final match remaining where he can overtake Messi. Argentina’s Julian Alvarez has also entered the Golden Boot race with four goals.
Lionel Messi also made a big record by scoring a goal in this match. Now Lionel Messi has become Argentina’s most successful player in World Cup history. In this case, Lionel Messi surpassed Gabriel Batistuta who scored a total of 10 goals. Third on the list is Diego Maradona who has scored eight goals.
Argentina will win the title for the third time
Argentina suffered a 1-2 defeat against Saudi Arabia in their first match of the current tournament. But since then he has won five matches in a row. First, they defeated both Mexico and Poland by 2–0 margins to make it to the pre-quarterfinals. They then defeated Australia 2-1 in the pre-quarter final and the Netherlands 4-3 (penalty shootout) in the quarter final.
If seen, the Argentine team has reached the final for the sixth time in total. Before this she has managed to reach the final in 1930, 1978, 1986, 1990 and 2014 as well. Meanwhile, he also won the title in 1978 and 1986 World Cup. Now Argentina have a chance to win the title for the third time.
Messi will enter the final for the second time
35-year-old Lionel Messi is going to play the World Cup final for the second time. Earlier, Messi was also part of the team that finished runners-up in the 2014 World Cup final after losing to Germany. Messi has won many major titles for his club as well as Argentina. In such a situation, the World Cup trophy will add four moons to his golden career. Whether Messi’s dream comes true or not will be known in the coming days.