Twitter could not keep calm after Lionel Messi’s Argentina took a one-goal lead in the FIFA World Cup 2022 semifinal against Croatia. The referee handed a penalty when Argentine forward Julian Alvarez got clipped by the Croatia goalkeeper, who did not do anything to foul his opponent – as per fans who are raging on Twitter. However, Lionel Messi was right on the money for his country from the spot; Moments later, Julian Alvarez scored a stunning goal. (Highlights: Argentina vs Croatia FIFA World Cup 2022 semifinal)
Croatia were dominating the ball until that penalty from Lionel Messi and in the blink of an eye Argentina got two against the 2018 World Cup finalists.
Checkout angry fans reaction questioning FIFA and the referee below…
CROATIA should’ve had a corner but instead it was given as a goal kick and 15 seconds later Argentina had a penalty hmmm. — WolfRMFC (@WolfRMFC) December 13, 2022
Argentina getting another undeserved penalty. — Vince (@Blue_Footy) December 13, 2022
It’s okay to be a Messi fan and also think that it’s not a penalty. Game flipped on its head due to yet another bad call. — Xav Salazar (@XavsFutbol) December 13, 2022
Has FIFA created a new penalty rule purely for Messi’s Argentina?#ARGCRO #fifaworldcup
— Duncan Castles (@DuncanCastles) December 13, 2022
World record broken. Argentina have been awarded the most penalties in a single World Cup campaign. (5) — Albi (@albiFCB7) December 13, 2022
Gary Neville: “There’s no way that’s a penalty.”
Ian Wright: “They didn’t even check the VAR. I have no idea why. It’s not a penalty.”
Roy Keane: “I agree with the lads, that’s not a penalty for me.” #arg , #HRV , #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/0gwyU1z3En— Football Tweet (@Football__Tweet) December 13, 2022
How’s this not a penalty? pic.twitter.com/zK12sFxjYz— Mempeasem President (@AsieduMends) December 13, 2022
Coming to Argentina’s gameplan, midfielder Leandro Paredes and defender Nicolas Tagliafico were brought into Argentina’s starting line-up. However, Croatia started off aggressively getting a corner in the 16th minute where Dejan Lovren`s header from a difficult angle on the left was too high with the help of Josip Juranovic`s cross.Lionel Scaloni`s men made their first aggressive move in the 25th minute when Enzo Fernandez`s right footed shot from outside the box was saved in the bottom right corner coming from the assist of Alexis Mac Allister.
Six minutes later Croatia’s Ivan Perisic’s right footed shot from the left side of the box went just high as Mateo Kovacic`s assist went in vain. In the 32nd minute Dominik Livakovic of Croatia conceded a penalty corner. Livakovic and Kovacic both got yellow cards and in the 34th minute Messi converted it to give Argentina 1–0 lead, this appearance was Lionel Messi`s 25th equaling Lothar Matthaus` record in FIFA World Cup.In the 39th minute the Argentines doubled their lead as Julian Alvarez scored a goal to give his side a 2-0 lead.
Argentina scored almost for the third time when Messi’s cross helped Alexis MacAllister take a header from the left side of the six yard box to save in the center of the goal. Argentina went into half-time with a 2-0 lead despite having only 38 percent possession in comparison to Croatia who had 62. But the Argentines had five shots on target in comparison to Croatia who had none. (With ANI inputs)