Lionel Messi and Roy Keane have praised Manchester City forward Julian Alvarez after he scored twice to help Argentina advance to the World Cup final.
Lionel Scaloni’s team defeated Croatia 3-0 thanks to a brace from Alvarez and a Messi penalty, securing a spot in the final game on Sunday afternoon.
Five minutes after Messi’s penalty kick in the opening period, Alvarez made a charging move through the center of the Croatian defense, culminating in him beating Dominik Livakovic with a beautiful goal.
Just noticed this. For that second brilliant #JulianAlvarez goal Julian Alvarez almost ran the whole length of the pitch. He was actually defending a corner in his own half before making that rampaging run with the ball through the Croatia defence. What a player. #WorldCup2022 pic.twitter.com/VzcXvdj72n
— Shiva Chettri (@shivachettri) December 14, 2022
Then in the second half, the striker finished off a sublime mazy dribble from Messi with a simple strike to put the icing on the cake for Argentina.
And the 22-year-old forward earned plaudits from his international teammate Messi following the semifinal, with the Argentine captain claiming Alvarez deserved to win the Man of the Match award instead of him.
“Every player did very well, but if I have to choose I would give this [Man of the Match] award to Julian Alvarez,” said Messi in the aftermath of the 3-0 win. “He had an extraordinary game.”
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Alvarez’s performance also left ITV pundit Roy Keane impressed as well. “You’ve got to run in this game, especially when it’s direct,” said Keane.
“What I love about this is you’ve got a set piece and a striker going back to do the job properly.
“Croatia obviously, talk about cool heads, they weren’t cool for this four or five minutes. Look at this, power, running – okay there’s not that many options, people looking to help him – but it’s really poor defending, a little bit of luck, but he’s got composure.
“This is poor defending, it’s just this last bit – bang. Composure, right at the end, brilliant.”
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