Julian Alvarez the perfect foil for Lionel Messi and Argentina

Only six Argentines have scored more World Cup goals than Julian Alvarez. He’s the first to score a semi-final brace since Diego Maradona in 1986

LINK UP: Argentina's Julian Alvarez celebrates scoring their side's third goal of the game with team-mate Lionel Messi during the FIFA World Cup semi-final match at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar. Pic: Adam Davy/PA Wire

The Argentine commentary for the fourth World Cup goal of Julian Alvarez’s career is quite a listen, if you have 30 seconds to trawl Google or social media. It’s not hard found.

If you cup your ear for a split-second, you hear the word Alvarez in there but it’s lost in a maelstrom of wild emotion and a verbal torrent that reaches a pitched crescendo with six words roared into the microphone: “Messi! Messi! Messi! Futbol! Futbol! Futbol!” Yes. Quite. We suppose, if nothing else, it’s a pretty neat synopsis of why we’re all here in the desert in December anyway, right? It’s ultimately why Julian Alvarez is here too.

After his semi-final brace helped to down Croatia and brought his personal tally to four goals in four starts in Qatar, something else besides the commentary went viral. A picture from a decade ago of Alvarez, not yet in his teens getting a selfie with mid-20s Messi. It was taken somewhere between the second and third editions of the little wizard’s World Cup journey.

Now in his fifth and final one, it is that little fan who has grown into the man who might finally lead the line with enough purpose and penetration for Argentina’s No.10 to win it all. To put it another way, Alvarez could prove to be Messi’s crowning Jules.

Take that third goal, the one which ensured the semi-final night would not be as fraught and panicky as the quarter-final and last 16 had been, when Lionel Scaroni’s side wobbled while holding 2-0 leads. Messi’s mazy run was something from an age we thought had gone by, teasing Josko Gvardiol then scorching him on the outside. But when he cut it back through Gvardiol’s legs and through a transfixed Croatian defence, only one body was moving — Alvarez as he snuck in to slide it home.

Once given a proper chance, Alvarez has barely stopped moving out here. When Messi, Scaloni and the rest were looking for the spark to get their campaign back on track in their second group game against Mexico, Alvarez was sprung from the bench with the clock on 63 minutes and the game still locked at 0-0. Within a minute Messi arrowed his first iconic Lusail goal into the net and La Albiceleste haven’t looked back since.

Next up, Alvarez started and scored against Poland, did likewise against the Aussies and added his brace against Croatia, including his messy, mesmerising solo first-half effort. When Messi was handed the fourth Budweiser man of the match gong afterwards, the stadium still bouncing to a blue and white beat long after the final whistle, he was asked who else may have deserved the honour on this night.

“Today I think Julian stood out,” Messi said. “He played an extraordinary match and had a key role, fighting and running. He was on top form and carried the team. He’s a key player as he has been throughout. He really earned it.” Later, he added of Alvarez, “[he was] opening the game, running at everything, crashing into everything, fighting.” 

Crashing into everything just about summed it up. His first goal, five fast minutes after he’d won the penalty that Messi buried for the opener, featured lots of crashing…at the end. But look back and you see that it all began with Alvarez manning the front post as Luka Modric prepared to take a corner. When it was taken short, he bursts towards the ball and eventually picks it up, after a couple of deflections and tackles, just inside his own half. He then runs at, well, everything, just as Messi suggested. It was slapstick in parts but scintillating too, running at such unstoppable pace. A 22-year-old in a bloody hurry to make his first World Cup his own.

“It was a nice goal,” Alvarez said afterwards. “I don’t usually run with the ball a lot but the situation presented itself.” That’s not quite right though. Alvarez hunts out the situations, looks to have a stunning sense of where they might be. That glorious Messi run for the third goal may have been wasted by previous wingmen in the Argentine attack. Alvarez, who at £14million looks ever more like the best bit of transfer business Manchester City have pulled off, may be Messi’s best hard-running yet ultra-intuitive foil since Luis Suarez in the 2014-16 period.

That’s not to mention the other breakout young talent, Enzo Fernandez, blossoming behind him. Scaloni deserves huge credit for finding the poise to pause after being stunned by Saudi Arabia in the opener, and frustrated early by Mexico, and trust in the inexperienced pair to help change things entirely. As well as they dovetail with the talisman, they both provide new threats of their own which means teams can’t only focus on Messi.

While records tumble around his captain, Alvarez is making his own moves too. Only six Argentines have scored more World Cup goals than him. He’s the first to score a semi-final brace since Diego Maradona in 1986. The man they call ‘El Araña’ or ‘the spider’ is spinning a hell of a tale.

“It was awesome the way [Julian] covered,” Scaloni said after Tuesday’s triumph. “He’s young, and it’s normal that he wants to eat the world.” The final word though, as usual, would be Messi’s. While the narrative around him and the ultimate deliverance on offer at the Lusail on Sunday night is inescapable, he insisted it is the collective hunger of the entire cast to claim a third World Cup that will be decisive.

“In the end, we all want it,” Messi said. “The important thing is to be able to achieve the group objective. That is the most beautiful thing of all, and we are a little step away.” And yet a step closer too with his new-found foil beside him.