Doha, Qatar - Forward Lionel Messi scored the first goal and set up Julian Alvarez for the other two as he led Argentina into the FIFA World Cup final with a 3-0 win over Croatia on Tuesday – keeping his dream alive of lifting the trophy at last in his fifth and likely final attempt.

Messi (35) smashed Argentina ahead with a 34th-minute penalty after Alvarez was brought down by goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.

It was his fifth goal of the Qatar tournament, level at the top with Kylian Mbappé of France, and 11th overall at the World Cup for the Albiceleste, which moved him one ahead of previous record holder Gabriel Batistuta.

Five minutes later he set up attacking partner Alvarez to score from a remarkable solo effort across half the field, and the pair combined again in the 69th when Alvarez tapped in after a dazzling Messi run.

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Messi joined German Lothar Matthäus on 25 World Cup matches, a record he can gain sole possession of in Sunday's final against titleholders France or surprise team Morocco, who will face off in the other semifinal match on Wednesday.

Argentina reached the final for the sixth time, lifting the trophy in 1978 over the Netherlands and 1986 over West Germany, while losing deciders 1930 against Uruguay and 1990 and 2014 against Germany.

Messi finally wants to lift the trophy, at last, having been on the losing 2014 team. He has said the Qatar World Cup will be his last.

Unlike in their quarterfinal against the Netherlands, which they won on penalties after squandering a 2-0 lead, they did not allow Croatia back into the game and could have won by a bigger margin had it not been for Livakovic.

Croatia finally ran out of luck after beating Japan and record champions Brazil on penalties in the previous rounds.

Croatia will now fight for third place Saturday against the other semifinal loser in Wednesday's Morocco vs. France match.