The South American nation will be seeking a third FIFA World Cup when they take on either holders France or surprise semi-finalists Morocco on Sunday (December 18) and they sent out a statement of intent to their opponents as they outplayed the 2018 runners-up.

After an edgy start Argentina earned the chance to take the lead when a through ball found Alvarez inside the box, who was blocked by Croatian keeper Dominic Livakovic.

Argentina were awarded a penalty but Livakovic was unable to repeat previous shoot-out heroics from earlier in the tournament, with Messi powering his spot-kick into the roof of the net to make it 1-0.

Five minutes later Argentina took a firm grip on the semi-final when direct running from Alvarez, and a bit of good fortune as the ball bounced off a defender and sat up for it, got him into a position to direct the ball past Livakovic and into the net for 2-0.

Argentina confirmed the victory with 20 minutes remaining as a wonderful run from Messi had Josko Gvardiol beaten all ends up, before Messi crossed into the box where Alvarez slotted the ball into the net for 3-0.

Messi now sits level with France’s Kylian Mbappe in the race for the tournament’s golden boot, but one of the world’s greatest players never to win the World Cup now has his sights set on the Jules Rimet Trophy after this comfortable win.

Croatia will now move on to the third place playoff, due to be held at the Khalifa International Stadium on Saturday (December 17).