Argentina crush Croatia 3-0 to storm into final of FIFA World Cup

Argentina defeated Croatia to storm into the final of the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday.  Two goals from Julian Alvarez and one from Lionel Messi took Argentina to a convincing 3-0 victory in the first semi-final. IST). The Lionel Messi-led team will be facing either France or Morocco the two teams in the other semi-final.

This is Argentina’s sixth entry into the World Cup final overall and their second in eight years. The loss has closed the doors for the 2018 runners-up Croatia, and they will now be facing the loser of the second semi-final in the third-place play-off.

It was Messi’s fifth goal of the tournament, making him joint top-scorer with France’s Kylian Mbappe. His 11th career goal also took him past Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina’s all-time World Cup top scorer.

Lionel Messi has got a last chance to realise his dream of winning a at World Cup.

However, it was 22-year-old Alvarez who stole the show, earning the penalty which enabled Messi to score, and then following it up with two goals of his own to establish an unassailable 3-0 lead over Croatia.

Messi scored from a penalty in characteristic style in the 34th minute, after Alvarez was brought down by Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.

Alvarez then made a solo 50 metres dash to make it 2-0 five minutes later.

The pair combined perfectly in the 69th for Alvarez to drive home his second goal after a brilliant pass from Messi to seal the victory in style.