Messi leads Argentina to the 2022 Qatar World Cup final, with a hat-trick against Croatia
The Argentine national team qualified for the final match of the World Cup Qatar 2022, after easily defeating its Croatian counterpart, with three goals for free, in the confrontation that took place between them this evening, Tuesday, at the “Lusail” stadium, in the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, which It will be hosted by Qatar and will last until December 18.
Argentina vs Croatia
The Argentine star, Lionel Messi, scored the first goal against the Croatian national team, via a penalty kick, in the 34th minute of the match time.
With his goal against Croatia, he now overtakes Messi, the historic top scorer for Argentina in the World Cup, with 11 goals, as he surpasses Gabriel Batistuta, who scored 10 goals, to become the historical top scorer for the Tango team in the World Cup.
Messi succeeded in reaching the fifth goal in the World Cup, equalizing the goals of Kylian Mbappe at the top of the scorers' ranking in general.
Julian Alvarez added the second goal for Argentina in the 39th minute of the match.
Argentina vs Croatia
The "Opta" statistics network stated that Lionel Messi will participate tonight in his 25th World Cup match, equaling Lothar Matthaus as the most participating player in the history of the World Cup.
And Messi has 25 matches in the history of his participation in the shirt of tango dancers in the World Cup, to equal with former German legend Matthews in the lead, and surpassing the flea, former star Miroslav Klose, who participated in 24 matches in the World Cup.
The formation of the Argentine national team was as follows.
Goalkeeper: Martinez
Defense line: Otamendi, Romero, Molina, Tagliafico
Midfield: Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo de Paul, Mac Alistair, Paredes
Offensive line: Messi, Julian Alvarez
The Croatian national team consisted of:
Goalkeeper: Levakovic
Defense line: Lovren, Guardiol, Joranović, Sosa
Midfield: Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic
Offensive line: Bazalic, Kramaric, Perisic
Argentina vs Croatia
The Argentine national team succeeded in reaching the final match after overcoming the Dutch windmills in the quarter-finals after a crazy match that extended to penalty kicks after the end of the original and extra time with a 2-2 draw.
As for the Croatian national team, which aspires to qualify for the second consecutive year to the World Cup final, it succeeded in crossing a very difficult obstacle after it defeated Brazil in the quarter-finals also by penalty kicks, after the end of the original and extra time of the match in a 1-1 draw.
The Argentine national team is scheduled to collide in the final of the 22nd edition of the World Cup, which will be held next Sunday, with the winner of the France-Morocco match that will be held tomorrow, Wednesday, while the Croatian national team will play with the loser from the other confrontation for third place next Saturday.