Lionel Messi is one step away from World Cup glory after a spellbinding performance in Argentina’s demolition of Croatia in Tuesday night’s semi-final in Doha.
The Argentina captain has never won football’s biggest prize but will have one last chance against France or Morocco back at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday.
Despite appearing to tweak a hamstring early on Wednesday night, he scored a first-half penalty to give his team the lead and then, after Julian Alvarez had doubled the lead before the break, Messi turned on the style to create one of the goals of the tournament for the Manchester City striker midway through the second period.