Lionel Messi has revealed that Argentina were aware of how best to exploit Croatia's weaknesses ahead of their 3-0 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-final win on Tuesday night.
The South American giants secured a comfortable victory over the eastern Europeans in the crunch tie courtesy of goals from Messi and Julian Alvarez, who scored a brace.
Read: Messi Alvarez fire Argentina to World Cup final
The Paris Saint-Germain forward set three new records and equalled another during the emphatic win over Zlatko Dalic's side, including becoming La Albiceleste's all-time top goalscorer at World Cup tournaments.
Messi ended the tie with a goal and an assist, and was also awarded the title of Man of the Match.
The 35-year-old has since explained that Argentina knew what Croatia would do against them and how to respond.
"This is a very wise squad," Messi said post-match, per the Daily Mirror.
"We know what to do in every second of the game.
"We knew the Croatians would have the ball possession but we knew this could be our strength.
"Sometimes they are disordered when they lose the ball and they left many spaces.
"To see these people, the family thought the World Cup was something incredible.
"And we are where we wanted to be. We started off losing but we asked the people to stay confident with us because we knew.
"It's the best for me. We had tough times but we got the chance to experience something spectacular tonight."
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Messi also insisted that Argentina's shock opening-match defeat to Saudi Arabia was a much-needed lesson.
"I would say the first match was a hard blow for all of us after being unbeaten for 36 matches," he added.
"We didn't think we would lose against Saudi Arabia so to start that way was an acid test for our squad, but we have proved how strong we are.
"It has been very difficult because every game has been a final for us – there has been a mental load.
"But we've played five finals and luckily won them all.
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"I hope we can win the sixth one."
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