QATAR 2022 WORLD CUP: Lionel Messi books a date with destiny as Argentina trash Croatia 3-0 to qualify for World Cup finals
By Samson Adeyemo
Argentina captain Lionel Messi has again proven himself in world football and liberated his hopes of becoming a world cup winner as he and Julian Alvarez combine for all three goals to send Argentina to the World Cup final at the Lusail Iconic Stadium.
Lionel Messi scored the opener from the penalty spot, before Alvarez scored twice to secure the victory.
Argentina last reached the World Cup final in 2014 in Brazil but were beaten by Germany, and have not lifted the trophy since Diego Maradona led his nation to victory in Mexico in 1986.
Speaking during the post match interview, Messi said: “I am enjoying this a lot. I am feeling really good, I feel strong enough to face every match. The previous match was a big sacrifice.
“Today we were tired, but we pulled out strength to earn the victory. We played very well, we preferred to play this way because we knew they would not have the ball. We knew we would have to run. We prepared in a very good way.
“I feel very happy in this World Cup. I am able to help the squad.”
He added: “I would say the first match [the defeat against Saudi Arabia] was a hard blow because we had been unbeaten in six matches. To start in such a way in a World Cup, we did not think we would lose to Saudi Arabia.
“It was an acid test of the whole squad but we proved how strong we are. We won the other matches and it was very difficult what we did. Every match was a final and we were aware if we did not win things would be complicated for us.
“We have won five finals and I hope this is the case for the final on Sunday. We lost in the first match due to fine details but it helped us to be stronger.”
Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic wasn’t left out of the interview as he said “Perhaps this is the end of the generation of the World Cups, a couple have reached an age and have to see what happens in 2026.
“We have had a great team and this generation will finish off their career at Euro 2024. We have the National League and an excellent generation who reached two semi-finals.”
When asked about his own future, Dalic said: “I will continue, my contract is until 2024. We have the Nations League then the World Cup qualifications too. My plan and objective is to take Croatia to Euro 2024.”
As he was asked about Messi, he added: “Nothing much needs to be said about Messi. The best player in the world and very good and very dangerous today. It is the true Messi we expected to see.”
