Lionel Messi created a 66-year-old FIFA World Cup record. Lionel Messi‘s inspirational effort helped Argentina defeat Croatia 3-0 on Tuesday, December 13, and advance to the 2022 FIFA World Cup final. A long-standing record was broken by the winning team’s captain. The night’s three goals were all contributed to by the captain of Argentina. He broke the tie with a penalty, launched the counterattack that resulted in Julian Alvarez’s second goal, and provided a helping hand for his third.
As he led his team to their second World Cup final in three editions, the 35-year-old was simply unstoppable on the evening. Messi became the first player since 1966 to score and provide an assist in four different World Cup games with his heroics on the scoring and assist front that evening.
The Argentine captain scored a goal and added an assist against Mexico, the Netherlands, and Croatia in three of those games, which were all part of the current tournament. Together with Kylian Mbappe of France, the PSG star has scored five goals overall in Qatar. The greatest creators of the tournament, according to Messi’s three assists, are Antoine Griezmann, Harry Kane, and Bruno Fernandes.
Messi announced before the competition began that this would be his final World Cup with Argentina, and he is now just one match away from winning the championship. If they were to ultimately succeed, it would be the ideal sendoff for the 35-year-old.
The Albiceleste gradually gained ground after getting off to a poor start as the Vatreni dominated possession and looked to attack. They confidently took their chances. With a fantastic double, Julian Alvarez once more showed off his enormous potential, but Lionel Messi was the star of the show.
The 35-year-old had an outstanding effort to win his fourth Man-of-the-Match trophy of the competition. In addition, he overtook Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina’s most prolific World Cup scorer. Messi, who is regarded as one of the best players of all time, has long struggled to win the World Cup, but doing so would officially give him the “GOAT” moniker.
In the 2014 competition, he did come near, but the raging German squad dashed his dreams as his team fell short 1-0 in the championship game. The two-time past World Cup champions also had a poor start to their current campaign, falling to Saudi Arabia in their opening game. They have subsequently made things right and are prepared for the great confrontation once more.
For more football match updates, news, and rumors, keep following this space.