Argentina defeated Croatia to storm into the final of the FIFA World Cup on Wednesday.  Two goals from Julian Alvarez and one from Lionel Messi took Argentina to a convincing 3-0 victory in the first semi-final. IST). The Lionel Messi-led team will be facing either France or Morocco the two teams in the other semi-final.

This is Argentina’s sixth entry into the World Cup final overall and their second in eight years. The loss has closed the doors for the 2018 runners-up Croatia, and they will now be facing the loser of the second semi-final in the third-place play-off.

It was Messi’s fifth goal of the tournament, making him joint top-scorer with France’s Kylian Mbappe. His 11th career goal also took him past Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina’s all-time World Cup top scorer.

Lionel Messi has got a last chance to realise his dream of winning a at World Cup.

However, it was 22-year-old Alvarez who stole the show, earning the penalty which enabled Messi to score, and then following it up with two goals of his own to establish an unassailable 3-0 lead over Croatia.

Messi scored from a penalty in characteristic style in the 34th minute, after Alvarez was brought down by Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.

Alvarez then made a solo 50 metres dash to make it 2-0 five minutes later.

The pair combined perfectly in the 69th for Alvarez to drive home his second goal after a brilliant pass from Messi to seal the victory in style.