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Argentina vs Croatia (Image Source: Twitter)
On 14 December 2022, Lionel Messi’s Argentina took on Luka Modric’s Croatia in the ongoing FIFA World Cup. It was the first semi-final of this ongoing tournament that took place in the Lusail Stadium. Speaking of forms, Argentina came to this match after defeating the Netherlands in a penalty shootout.
On the other hand, Croatia came to this match after defeating the world’s number-one-ranked team, Brazil in a penalty shootout in the quarter-final. So, the stage was set for a great battle once again between these slides. In the last edition of this tournament, Croatia defeated Argentina by a margin of 3-0.
Argentina defeated Croatia 3-0 in the FIFA World Cup 2022
Speaking of the match, the match started very evenly as both teams were looking to settle their nerves. In the 25th minute, Argentina’s Enzo Fernandez tried a curling effort from the bottom edge of the box. But, Croatia’s goalkeeper Livakovic made a comfortable save. Then, in the 32nd minute, the referee gave a controversial penalty to Argentina.
However, Messi did not make any mistake from the spot and scored the opener in the 34th minute. Then, in the 39th minute, Croatia’s defense was all over the place as Julian Alvarez scored a solo goal to make it 2-0. Thus, the first half ended 2-0. In the second half, Croatia started the game with more control than Argentina. But again, they were failing to penetrate the final third. However, in the 58th minute, Messi had a shot after an excellent one-two with Julian Alvarez. It was a shot from 10 yards out, but Livakovic was equal to the task as he made a comfortable save.
Then, in the 62nd minute, Lovren had two golden chances to pull back one goal for his country. It was a lovely in-swinging delivery from Modric into the box. But, Otamendi cleared it without taking any risk. Then, in the 69th minute, Alvarez completed his brace as he made it 3-0. Lionel Messi assisted him with that build-up. It was a dazzling ball into the box which Alvarez did not make any mistake to convert into a goal. After that, Argentina hold into that lead with ease as the game ended 3-0 in favor of them.