As Julian Alvarez, the 22-year-old Argentinian forward, dribbled across half the pitch on Tuesday, dodging last-ditch tackles from Croatian defenders and latching onto a favourable deflection before dinking the ball past the goalkeeper, there was a sense that this had all happened before.
Alvarez’s goal in the 2022 World Cup semifinal was in many ways a more fortuitous version of that scored by Argentinian footballing legend Diego Maradona against England at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, in which he dribbled past half of the English defence before slotting it home and reeling off towards the stands in celebration.
