As Argentina’s zeroed in on a third World Cup triumph, it was impossible to ignore their iconic leader and the compelling narrative around him. It was mainly because nobody inside this arena could take their eyes off him.
It was hard to find superlatives to describe Messi's performance against Croatia. The PSG striker got Argentina up and running with a cooly converted penalty in the first half, his fifth goal of the tournament.
His jaw dropping moment came late in the second half as he sealed victory with a vintage run. Picking up the ball on the right, he ran away from Josko Gvardiol, stopped, jerked, went again, tying one of the tournament’s best defenders in a knot.
He then spun, the Croatian centre back an eased passed him along the byline to pull it back for Álvarez who did the rest. Gvardiol was powerless. So were Croatia. Peter Drury on commentary described the moment perfectly as Messi's Marvelous mischief.
Argentina will face either France or Morocco for a chance at eternal glory on Sunday. It will be Messi's second World Cup Final having lost to Germany in 2014.
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