Lionel Messi and Julian Alvarez fire Argentina past Croatia into World Cup Final

Two-time world champions Argentina are en route to their sixth final in World Cup history, and this is largely thanks to Lionel Messi's excellence and Julian Alvarez's decisiveness in front of goal. Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 to reach their second World Cup final in eight years. Messi put Argentina on the path to victory in the 34th minute with a perfectly struck penalty, and brilliantly created Argentina's third goal.

Julian Alvarez scored Argentina's second goal of the night by taking Messi's header just inside Croatian territory and embarking on a slaloming run and into the Livakovic's net. Messi's assist for Alvarez's second goal was superb; he twisted and turned past Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol in an eye-catching move before putting it on a plate for Alvarez to score.

For the fourth time in this FIFA World Cup, Messi has been named Man of the Match, a feat achieved by no other player in the current World Cup tournament. He has scored goals in every knock-out game of this tournament.

He told the press after Argentina's victory: "A lot of things are going through my head. Very excited to see all this. We have experienced something incredible during the whole World Cup. Now there is only one game to go. Is this my best World Cup? I don't know. I've been enjoying it for a while now. Since we arrived in Qatar we have enjoyed a lot. We started off losing against Saudi Arabia, but we always had faith. Who am I thinking about at the moment? My family. They are the most important thing for me. We've had good times and bad times, but now it's time for another great moment."

Messi has now played 25 World Cup fixtures - same as Lothar Matthäus, and has totaled eight assists in the World Cup, same as Diego Maradona. On Sunday Messi will make his 26th World Cup appearance, an all-time record, beating Lothar Matthäus ' old mark. He is also Argentina's top scorer in World Cup history, with 11, and is the only player to score in the World Cup in his teens, 20s and 30s. Messi now has nine assists in World Cup fixtures, making him the record World Cup assist provider for Argentina, one more than Maradona's eight.

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