Lionel Messi produced a magical display to inspire Argentina to a 3-0 win over Croatia and fire his side into Sunday’s World Cup final.
At the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday, Messi, gave his team a 1-0 lead from the penalty spot in the 34th minute after fellow forward Julian Alvarez was taken down by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
With 11 goals, his searing strike made him Argentina’s all-time leading scorer in the World Cup. Five minutes later, Alvarez added another after a scintillating 50-meter solo run.
In the 69th minute, Messi and Alvarez again worked together to score Argentina’s third goal. Messi first played with Croatia’s Josko Gvardiol out wide before driving past him into the box and laying on a pass for Alvarez to finish.
Despite having complete control of the ball, Croatia failed to score a single goal and remained toothless the entire game.
