Zlatko Dalic had greatness on his mind and it transpired that he was not really talking about Lionel Messi. He was contemplating the prospect of the greatest of all time, but he was not referencing Argentina’s No 10. Not directly, anyway, because Messi could prevent Dalic from rewriting Croatian history again.
Indeed, perhaps it is the presence of Argentina in Tuesday’s semi-final that makes Dalic believe victory would render it the finest day in Croatia’s footballing history. He has already won a match in the last four of this competition, overcoming England in 2018 and it was entirely in character for his team that they did it the hard way, after coming from behind. But the quarter-final penalty shootout triumph over Brazil also felt particularly prestigious, in part because it was Brazil.
