Considered to be one of the favourites to win the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, Argentina defeated Netherlands in their quarter-final fixture to book a berth in the semi-finals. Lionel Messi once proved to be his side’s star player with an assist and a goal, in what is probably his last-ever World Cup.
The Argentina captain first assisted Nahuel Molina in the 35th-minute to give Argentina a 1-0 lead and then extended it in the 73rd-minute through a penalty. Meanwhile, Wout Weghorst staged a comeback for the Dutch, making it 1-2 in the 83rd-minute and then equalising in added time. With the match entered extra-time, both teams failed to find a winner, letting their fate rest on a penalty shootout. In the shootout, Emiliano Martinez came out on top with some brilliant saves as Argentina secured a 4-3 win in penalties.
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Last month, Messi had already stated that this would be his final World Cup. So ahead of Argentina’s semi-final fixture vs Croatia, manager Lionel Scaloni gave a massive update on Messi’s international future. “We will hope he continues playing. Let’s see if he does. We will keep enjoying him, that’s important for us and for the world of football”, he said.
Argentina face Croatia in their semi-final fixture, at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar on Wednesday. The European side had to defeat Brazil in a shootout in the quarter-finals to reach the last-four. This is also the third World Cup meeting between Argentina and Croatia, and first in the knockout stages. Argentina won 1-0 in 1998, before Croatia’s 3-0 victory in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Meanwhile, the CONMEBOL side will be seeking to reach the World Cup final for the sixth time, a figure bettered only by Germany (8). They have never been eliminated at the semi-final stage before, recently beating the Dutch in 2014.