All eyes were on Lionel Messi in Argentina’s World Cup semifinal clash with Croatia, and the 35-year-old delivered the type of performance that could further cement his legacy, should La Albiceleste finish off their dream run in Qatar.
Messi scored once and assisted on another to power Argentina’s 3–0 victory in the semifinal and reach the second World Cup final of his storied career.
It was a classic Messi performance in every sense of the word—even in the appearance of complacency in the first 20 minutes. The Paris Saint-Germain star was mostly marked out of the opening phase of the match. But Argentina struck on a direct pass over the Croatian back line. Center back Joško Gvardiol was tight with Messi, and Julián Álvarez found the space in behind and drew a penalty on goalkeeper Dominik Livaković, who lunged into him while trying to make a tackle.
Messi stepped up to the spot needing one more goal to become Argentina’s all-time leading goalscorer at the World Cup. He buried it into the roof of the net, giving Livaković no chance to play hero once more and snapping the national tie he held with Gabriel Batistuta. No Argentine has more than Messi’s 11 World Cup goals now. He entered Qatar having never scored in the knockout stage. He has now scored in the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals, and he’s tied with Kylian Mbappé (five goals) in the race for the golden boot.
After Álvarez scored a nifty goal to extend his side’s lead to 2–0, Messi put on one more show for the swaths of Argentina supporters at Lusail Stadium. His back facing Gvardiol, one of the breakout stars of this tournament, Messi turned him in circles, tiptoed down the touch line and played the ball into Álvarez, who slotted home his second and put the game out of reach—and he’s now tied with Olivier Giroud for second in goals at this World Cup (four).
The assist would have been any player’s best of a tournament—until you consider what Messi did in the previous round, with his otherworldly pass to Nahuel Molina for Argentina’s opener vs. the Netherlands.
Messi now enters the final having put together what is likely the finest string of performances of any player in this tournament, save for maybe France’s Kylian Mbappé. He is the leader in Qatar in shots (27), shots on target (14), expected goals (4.75) and chances created (18), and is joint-leader in goals (five) and assists (3), per Opta.
The story lines and milestones heading into the final are seemingly endless: The semifinal was Messi’s 25th World Cup appearance, tied for most in men’s World Cup history. The assist, his eighth at a World Cup, draws him level with fellow Argentina legend Diego Maradona for the most World Cup assists since that mark officially began being kept in 1966.
La Albiceleste entered the tournament as a supposed team of destiny. The performance of their talisman in the semifinal may give them chance to fulfill it.
