Lionel Messi scored the first and set up the other two as he led Argentina into the World Cup final 3-0 over Croatia on Tuesday – and he can now crown his career by lifting the biggest trophy in football at last.

Messi, 35, smashed Argentina ahead into the top right corner with a 34th-minute penalty after Julian Alvarez was brought down by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic – which broke some early dominance from Croatia.

It was his fifth goal of the Qatar tournament, level at the top with Kylian Mbappe of France, and 11th overall at the World Cup for the Albiceleste which moved him one ahead of previous record holder Gabriel Batistuta.

Five minutes later Messi set up attacking partner Alvarez to score from a remarkable solo effort across half the field, and the pair combined again in the 69th when Alvarez tapped in after a dazzling Messi run down the right.

Messi joined German Lothar Matthäus on 25 World Cup matches, a record he can gain sole possession of in Sunday’s final against title holders France or surprise team Morocco who contest the other semi-final on Wednesday.

Argentina reached the final for the sixth time, lifting the trophy in 1978 over the Netherlands and 1986 over West Germany, while losing deciders 1930 against Uruguay and 1990 and 2014 against Germany.

Messi finally wants to win the trophy, having been on the losing 2014 team, but he has since finally won a first big title with Argentina, at last year’s Copa America. He has said his fifth World Cup in Qatar would be his last.

“We trusted ourselves. We are in the World Cup final – again – that is what we wanted. It was a lot of fun advancing so far. We must enjoy it,” Messi said.

“It is a win for my family. They have always stood by me when the times were tough. But it is also for the whole football family of Argentina.”

Alvarez said: “I am very happy. We deserved it, we played a great game. We are really looking forward to the final.”

Unlike in their quarter-final against the Netherlands which they won on penalties after squandering a 2-0 lead, they did not allow Croatia back into the game, and could have even won by a bigger margin had it not been for Livakovic.

Luka Modric’s Croatia finally ran out of luck after beating Japan and record champions Brazil on penalties in the previous rounds. They will now contest the match for third place Saturday against the other semi-final loser.

“It was tough to play against a team like Argentina after the first goal. And then they have Messi, you saw his class on the third goal,” Croatia defender Borna Sosa said.

The teams had met twice before at the World Cup,in the group stage on each occasion, with Argentina winning 1-0 in 1998 and Croatia 3-0 in 2018.

Midfield was crowded and Croatia aimed to build confidence with long spells of possession but without threatening in a game played in a much fairer way than the ill-tempered game against Dutch.

No team dared to take big risks, and it took until the 25th minutes until a first attempt on goal came from Alvarez.

But minutes later Croatia’s defence was completely exposed as Alvarez found himself alone in front of Livakovic after a long ball, got the ball past the keeper who however rammed him to the ground which left Italian referee Daniele Orsato with no choice but to rule penalty.

Messi did not miss the golden opportunity and fired the ball into the top corner in a clear statement of intent.

Five minutes later, Alvarez got the ball in his own half from Messi after a Croatia corner kick, ran towards goal, and although two Croatian defender got their feet on the ball it kindly fell back to Alvarez both times to volley home for 2-0.

Livakovic saved well from Alexis Mac Allister’s glancing header and Messi before finally being beaten again in the 69th.

Messi won a duel against defender Josko Gvardiol on the left, ran into the penalty area and passed the ball back to Alvarez to slot home.

Mac Allister missed a fourth by a few inches against Croatia who never game up but found no way through, with the 37-year-old Modric taken out with some 10 minutes left.

“We tried our best. The first half was good but we were 2-0 down. That was the problem. Congratulations to Argentina,” Sosa said.

Source: dpa/MIA