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Ivan Perisic has talked about Croatia's hopes of winning the 2022 FIFA World Cup for captain Luka Modric as Lionel Messi eyes glory with Argentina.
The Vatreni will head into the semifinals against Argentina on Tuesday (December 13) at the Lusail Stadium, hoping to make back-to-back finals. It's the second straight FIFA World Cup Croatia have reached the last four.
Modric, 37, has been at the forefront of Croatia's success in Qatar, starting all five games. The Croatian has earned 160 international caps, scoring 23 goals and providing 25 assists.
He will go toe-to-toe with Messi's Argentina on Tuesday, with the winner to face either Morocco or France in the final on Sunday (December 18). The 35-year-old attacker has been in scintillating form, scoring four goals and providing an assist in five games.
The Argentine icon is yet to win the FIFA World Cup, which may be his last opportunity to do so as he reaches the twilight of his career.
Ahead of Croatia's clash with La Albiceleste, Perisic touched on the Argentina captain's eagerness to win the tournament when explaining Croatia's desire to achieve glory with Modric. The Tottenham Hotspur wide man said (via MadridXtra):
"Cristiano couldn't win it. Messi is trying with Argentina. We will give our everything to win the World Cup for Modric."
Ronaldo's Portugal made a shock exit in the quarterfinals, losing 1-0 to Morocco. On Tuesday, pne of Modric or Messi will be the next big-name player to be eliminated from the Qatar showpiece.
Croatia are prepared to take on Lionel Messi's Argentina - Luka Modric
The excitement is building towards the first semifinal of the 2022 FIFA World Cup between Croatia and Argentina.
Ahead of the game, Modric was asked about playing against Messi. The Real Madrid midfielder said that Argentina have many other good players, apart from their talisman Messi.
He said:
“Argentina are a big team. I don't just want to play against one player. Of course, Leo Messi is very big, their best player, and we're going to have a lot of difficulties to stop him, but we're prepared, and we're going to give it our all. Let's go to try to make the best match of the tournament of our lives. I hope it will be enough to be in the final."
Croatia knows all about facing La Albiceleste at the FIFA World Cup, having beaten the South American side 3-0 in the group stage of the 2018 edition. That may be a good omen for the Europeans, who will start as the underdogs against the competition favourites.
