Argentina 3-0 Croatia – World Cup 2022: Lionel Messi stars as his side reach final

Josko Gvardiol is, according to many, the best defender at this World Cup. So here’s what happened after 69 minutes when he came up against Lionel Messi.

Gvardiol was beaten. Not once, not twice, but three times in the same mesmerising run along the left flank. Gvardiol is young, 15 years Messi’s junior. Yet in that moment, the gap between the men seemed reverse.

It was as if Messi was the younger man, full of confidence, arrogance and vim, as if Gvardiol was the old warhorse, led into battle one last time, but unable to keep up with his rival.

When the move was over – and the ball in the net – he carried on jogging across his own six yard box, helpless resignation in every step. One could almost hear the internal monologue. ‘What was I supposed to do? You all saw him. What could I possibly have done?’

He did quite a lot, as it was. The only reason he got beaten by Messi three times was that he recovered to catch him up twice. First time, Messi simply outpaced his man, ball stuck to his foot the way a magician might use Velcro. Gvardiol came back at him, kept pace, but Messi did him again, getting the ball nearer the by-line. Again, Gvardiol made it back into position, at which point Messi turned, retraced his steps, turned back, flipped the switched on his tormented opponent and cut the ball back for Julian Alvarez at the near post. It was a tap-in. The assist of the tournament? That doesn’t do it justice. An assist can be the simplest square pass, just as this was a simple cut back. What Messi did was more than assist. It was a creation. It was the Big Bang of assists.

To think he had never scored a goal in a World Cup knockout game until coming to Qatar. Now he has one in a last 16 match, a quarter-final and a semi-final. He got Argentina’s first here, from the penalty spot, breaking Gabriel Batistuta’s record of 11 World Cup goals for Argentina. What a tournament Messi is having now: five goals and four assists his part in Argentina’s 12 goals. To think this started with defeat to Saudi Arabia. It ends on Sunday back here in Lusail,. Will Messi emulate Diego Maradona, in Argentina’s sixth World Cup final – only Germany have made it to more. France may yet have a say but, make no mistake, this is Messi’s 1986. If he is going to own a World Cup, it will be this one.

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