Alvarez icing on another Messi masterclass takes Argentina to final

On a half-moon night, the stars twinkled in Argentina’s pale blue and white. And for once, it wasn’t just Lionel Messi though his brilliance did burn bright. On way to the World Cup final, their second in three attempts, Argentina settled scores with Croatia with a 3-0 win that was just as emphatic as the defeat in Russia four years ago.

Messi scored off a 34th minute penalty before Julian Alvarez showed that doing it alone is not just a Diego Maradona thing. Or a Messi thing. His brilliant goal came in the 39th minute. Alvarez scored again with a 69th minute tap-in after a Messi piece de resistance that could have been epiphanic for Josko Gvardiol, one of the most promising defenders in the game now.

Latching on to a ball on the right, Messi made light of feeling the back and side of his left leg in the first half and at the start of the second. The subsequent gallop made him look like he was 35 going on 23. Gvardiol couldn’t keep up and was spun left and right in a manner no one in this World Cup has been able to. The centre-back tailed Messi as he entered into the area and found Alvarez. Messi had left Gvardiol looking around for him once earlier but then his shot was saved by Dominik Livacovic. After the goal as Croatia scattered, Gvardiol hunched.

Game over. There would be no comebacks for a team that for more than one World Cup had made it look like normal service. The great Luka Modric left the World Cup quietly, being replaced in the 81st minute. This was Croatia’s first loss in regulation time since the 2018 final. One that came in a five-minute burst from Argentina.

One that came out of nothing. Little of what happened in the first 34 minutes prepared Lusail for the drama of the next five. On both occasions, Croatia were caught on the counter-attack. With predatory zeal, Argentina punished them. Barring the sliver of the stands that had fans in red checks, the huge stadium with swaying arches running through it swayed to “I Like To Move It” at half-time.

With songs whose lyrics invoke Diego Maradona, his parents and “Leo”, Argentines again created quite the atmosphere, the singing continuing well after the game. It crescendoed when Messi scored off the penalty, a shot that was climbing even as it bulged the netting. Till then, Croatia looked to be in control but Modric had lost the ball and Enzo Fernandez put Alvarez in the clear. Livakovic had no choice but to body-check the Argentina striker. Penalty.

In the 39th minute, Argentina again broke free. Off a restart move, the ball fell to Messi but even as he slipped, referee Daniele Orsato waved play-on as the ball had rolled to Alvarez. Uproar in the stands gave way to disbelief as Alavarez went on. And on. There was a player on his left and one on his right but the 22-year-old forward was set on going solo.

Off-balance, Josip Juranovic first tried to take the ball off Alvarez. Then, left back Borna Sosa tried an interception. The full backs being where the centre-backs should have been showed how terribly out of shape Croatia were. But the move still had to be finished. With feet in air, Alvarez stabbed home completing an effort that encapsulated strength and skill in equal measure. As Messi wrapped an arm on his shoulder, the cauldron that had 88,966 people wowed its appreciation.

Argentina could have been leading 3-0 in the 42nd minute but Livakovic got a strong hand to an Alexis Mac Allister header that the midfielder had bounced into the ground.

Matteo Kovavic 27th minute steal from Messi which was followed by a strong run down the middle seemed so long ago that it could have been in another game. Croatia had started higher up the pitch pushing Messi and Argentina away from areas they would have liked to be in. They were confidently circulating the ball but not much was happening at either end.

The first time a goalkeeper really needed to do something was in the 25th minute when Livakovic dived to his left to keep out a Nicolas Tagliafico drive. Emiliano Martinez too need to be alert in the 45th minute to turn out a Josip Juranovic shot after Modric had gone first, the ball hitting Nicolas Otamendi.

Possibly because it came so soon after a night when he and his mates sucked the life out of Brazil, Modric and the rest of the team didn’t have the legs for another fightback. The ovation from Lusail notwithstanding, Modric went gently into the night. Largely because on the other side, the man who shares his initials and the shirt number is in no mood to do so. Another final beckons Lionel Messi.