Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane has praised Julian Alvarez's composure after he scored an incredible solo goal to give Argentina a 2-0 lead over Croatia.
The two teams were evenly matched in Lusail until Alvarez left his mark on the game just after the half-hour mark. Manchester City's striker was brought down in a 1v1 situation by Dominik Livakovic on the 34th minute to give Lionel Messi the opportunity to give his country the lead which he proceeded to do.
Alvarez would then take centre stage five minutes later with a moment of which Messi would have been proud of. Having initially won the ball back for his team following a Croatia corner, the 22-year-old received the ball inside his own half.
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Argentina's striker proceeded to take on seemingly the whole Croatia defence, evading several challenges before lifting the ball beyond Livakovic. Discussing the goal in the ITV Sport studio, Keane could not help but praise the City man.
"You’ve got to run in this game, especially when it’s direct," Keane exclaimed. "What I love about this is you’ve got a set piece and a striker going back to do the job properly.
"Croatia obviously, talk about cool heads, they weren’t cool for this four or five minutes. Look at this, power, running - okay there’s not that many options, people looking to help him - but it’s really poor defending, a little bit of luck, but he’s got composure.
"This is poor defending, it’s just this last bit - bang. Composure, right at the end, brilliant."
Messi and Alvarez would link up once again in the second half as another incredible run, this time from the PSG man, laid the ball on a plate for City's youngster to slot home. Argentina are now set to qualify for the World Cup final and shall face either Morocco or France in Lusail on Saturday.
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