With Lionel Messi retiring from international football after the FIFA World Cup 2022 final, Argentina will be looking for a fantastic end for their legendary captain. The PSG star was in talismanic form during the semi-final clash against Croatia, scoring a goal and registering an assist in a 3-0 win at the Lusail Stadium in Qatar.
In the 32nd-minute, Argentina grabbed a 1-0 lead after a foul on Julian Alvarez by the Croatian goalkeeper. Stepping up for the penalty, the Argentina captain slotted it into the top-right corner. Then, Alvarez doubled Argentina’s lead in the 39th-minute. Then in the second-half, Messi destroyed Croatia’s hopes of a comeback with a stunning assist in the 69th-minute which Alvarez converted with ease to make it 3-0.
After the victory, Messi’s wife Antonela Roccuzzo posted a congratulatory message on Instagram, also uploading photos of her celebrating with their sons in the venue. She captioned it as, “”I CANT EXPLAIN IT BECAUSE YOU WONT UNDERSTAND!!!!. LET’S GO ARGENTINA!!! LETS GO @leomessi !!!!!” Here are the photos:
Also after the match, Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni stated that the victory against a team like Croatia made it an even bigger occasion. “I think we’ve played better matches than this one. The rival makes the victory and the context even bigger. Playing against this team is not easy, for a reason they are the current runner-up in the world”, he said.
“Julian’s game was very good, not only because he scored two goals, but also because he gave us a great hand with the Croatian midfielders. He had a tremendous display”, he further added.
After the win, Argentina reached the World Cup final for the sixth time, doing so in two of the last three editions of the competitions (also in 2014). Only Germany (8) have reached more finals in the competition than Argentina (6, level with Italy and Brazil). The CONMEBOL side are also only the second team in World Cup history to win two different semi-finals by a 3+ goal margin (also Germany, with Argentina previously winning 6-1 vs USA in 1930. This was the biggest World Cup semi-final victory while keeping a clean sheet.