Ten years ago, Julian Alvarez, who was just 12 then, thought that he had his dream come true when he got a chance to get clicked with Lionel Messi. What Alvarez didn’t know at that time was that his dream would just get better a decade later.
On Tuesday, as Messi’s teammate playing for Argentina, Alvarez scored twice, including one off an assist from Messi, to take Argentina through to the FIFA World Cup final in Qatar.
Argentina defeated Croatia 3-0 to book a place in the title match.

The first semifinal was all about Argentina, as a vintage Messi put his team ahead off a penalty and then put on show crafty wing-play to set up Alvarez, who got on the scoresheet twice for the South Americans.
The photo of a young Alvarez standing with Messi then went viral.

Messi’s fifth goal of this World Cup brought him level with Frances’ Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot. Alvarez, though, is close on their heels with four goals to his name so far — same as French striker Olivier Giroud.
Argentina will face either defending champions France or giant-killers Morocco, the first African team to reach the last-four stage at a FIFA World Cup, in the final.