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Lionel Messi will match Lothar Matthaus’ World Cup record of 25 appearances after the Argentina captain was, as expected, named in the starting XI to face Croatia.
Messi, whose six goal involvements in Qatar have only been bettered by France’s Kylian Mbappe (seven), will hope to lead Argentina into the final by overcoming the 2018 runners-up at Lusail Stadium on Tuesday.
The 35-year-old is Argentina’s joint-highest goalscorer in the competition with 10 goals and is one assist away from equalling Diego Maradona’s record of eight at World Cup tournaments (since 1966).
He has both scored and assisted a goal in three different World Cup matches, including two at this tournament (vs Mexico and the Netherlands). Since 1966, no player has ever done so in four separate games.
Coach Lionel Scaloni made two changes to the team that featured from the off against the Netherlands.
With Marcos Acuna suspended, Nicolas Tagliafico was selected at left-back, while Leandro Paredes came into the midfield with defender Lisandro Martinez dropping out.
Zlatko Dalic, meanwhile, stuck with the side that started against Brazil on Friday.
That means Luka Modric will become only the fourth player aged 37 or over to start six matches at a World Cup, after Brazil’s Nilton Santos in 1962, Italy’s Dino Zoff in 1982 and England’s Peter Shilton in 1990.
Modric was named in midfield alongside Marcelo Brozovic and Mateo Kovacic. Andrej Kramaric retained his place up front, with Bruno Petkovic, who netted against Brazil, on the bench.
This is the third World Cup meeting between Argentina and Croatia, and the first in the knockout stages.
Argentina won 1-0 in 1998, before Croatia’s 3-0 win in the 2018 edition in Russia.
