Argentina have booked their spot in the 2022 FIFA World Cup final after hammering three unreplied goals past Croatia during their semi final clash the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday night.

Lionel Messi was the star man of the match, grabbing a goal and assist to inspire his side to a 3-0 win over the Croatians, while Julian Alvarez grabbed a brace.

Argentina came into today’s game looking to advance to the World Cup final for a sixth time. They have never been eliminated at this stage of the tournament, most recently reaching the championship game in 2014.

Croatia at the other end aimed to become just the fourth European country to advance to back-to-back FIFA World Cup finals. Their third competition encounter with Argentina took place today.

This semifinal was opened up by Argentina’s opener from the penalty spot after a closely contested first half.

In an effort to respond quickly, Croatia surged forward, but Alvarez’s goal on the breakaway punished them.

The penalty that led to Messi’s opening goal and helped the Albiceleste captain become his country’s all-time greatest scorer in World Cup finals was also won by the Man City striker.

His fifth goal at Qatar 2022 takes him to 11 goals and sees him surpass Gabriel Batistuta.

⭐️ Lionel Messi: MotM – 🇦🇷 Argentina 3-0 Croatia 🇭🇷

🏹 Shots – 2
⚽️ Goals – 1
🅰️ Assists – 1
🔐 Key passes – 2
🤤 Dribbles – 5

🌡️ WS Rating – 8.59#FIFAWorldCup #Qatar2022 pic.twitter.com/7VR7TKCX8G

— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) December 13, 2022

While the Croatians may feel unfairly treated, they faced a more formidable challenge in the second half in hopes of advancing to a second straight World Cup final.

However, they were hacked once more in the 69th minute as Messi tricked Gvardiol on the right, latching onto the ball with tenacity before gliding to the byline.

The quick-footed magician dispatched his opponent once again for good before feeding Alvarez, who simply slides the ball home from close range to seal a 3-0 win for Argentina.

Lionel Messi has 8 assists for Argentina at World Cups. He has equalled Diego Maradona as Argentina’s top assistor at World Cups.

𝑳𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕? 𝑷𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒐𝒙!