His humiliation of defender Josko Gvardiol was, even by his own stratospheric standards, a high point of the World Cup, his conversion of a first-half penalty casually brilliant.
That Lionel Messi won the Player of the Match award for his performance in Argentina’s semi-final win over Croatia surprised no one. But let’s face it, if you had to pick one game-changer, one match-winner, it should have been Julian Alvarez, the 22-year-old who once pestered Messi for his autograph.
He won the spot kick Messi dispatched, scored the other two, the first of which involved a run from his own half. And if Alvarez, who has four tournament goals compared to Messi’s five and Kylian Mbappe’s five, has a starring role in Sunday’s final - and even wins the Golden Boot - then what will be the ramifications at Manchester City?
