The two goalscorers of the game: Lionel Messi (l) and Julian Alvarez (center) celebrate after the 2-0 for their team Photo: picture alliance/dpa/telam
From BZ/dpa
Argentina with superstar Lionel Messi has reached the final of a soccer World Cup for the sixth time. The South Americans clearly won against Croatia 3-0 (2-0) on Tuesday evening.
Argentina can now hope for their third World Cup triumph after 1978 and 1986 against defending champions France or outsiders Morocco on Sunday. Croatia, on the other hand, missed the second final after 2018.
Argentina’s Julian Alvarez scores to make it 2-0 Photo: picture alliance/dpa
Lionel Messi with a penalty kick (34th minute) and twice Julián Álvarez (39th and 69th) shot out the Argentinian victory. Messi initiated Alvarez’s first goal, and he prepared the second with a breathtaking solo.
Made it 1-0 with a penalty, started the 2-0 and prepared the 3-0 perfectly: Messi was once again the man of the game Photo: picture alliance/dpa
With his eleventh World Cup goal, Messi is now his country’s sole World Cup record scorer. In addition, he equaled the record set by Germany’s former world champion Lothar Matthäus with his 25th World Cup game.
France and Morocco will contest the second semi-final on Wednesday (8 p.m. / ZDF and Magenta TV).