*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
Croatia are one game away from reaching a second successive World Cup final… but they have the little matter of Lionel Messi to deal with first!
The 2018 runners-up stunned favourites Brazil with a late Bruno Petkovic equaliser in extra time of their quarter-final clash before Dominik Livakovic emerged as the hero in the shootout to book their spot in the last four.
There was also late drama for Argentina in the quarter-finals as the Netherlands came back from two goals down at the death before Emiliano Martinez saved two penalties when the tie went to spot kicks.
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The Albiceleste are chasing their first World Cup trophy since 1986 and Messi has been channeling Diego Maradona with a string of superb showings in Qatar.
He has netted four goals to put himself in contention to win the Golden Boot but Croatia’s defence – led by rising star Josko Gvardiol – has conceded on just three occasions.
You can check out the latest Croatia v Argentina odds on the Paddy Power website and Paddy Power app, otherwise everything you need to know about the World Cup semi-final fixture is below.
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Argentina v Croatia date and kick-off time
Argentina v Croatia is scheduled to kick off at 19:00 GMT on Tuesday, December 13. You can watch the match live on ITV1 and RTÉ2.
Argentina v Croatia team news and predicted lineups
Argentina full-backs Gonzalo Montiel and Marcos Acuna are suspended after picking up their second bookings of the tournament in the last round, which saw referee Mateu Lahoz dish out 17 yellow cards. Angel di Maria could replace Lisandro Martinez as head coach Lionel Scaloni reverts to a 4-3-3 formation.
Croatia head coach Zlatko Dalic has a fully-fit squad and could opt to continue with the same XI that started against Brazil.
Argentina predicted lineup: Martinez; Molina, Romero, Otamendi, Tagliafico; Fernandez, De Paul, Mac Allister; Di Maria, Messi, Alvarez
Croatia predicted lineup: Livakovic; Juranovic, Gvardiol, Lovren, Sosa; Modric, Brozovic, Kovacic; Pasalic, Kramaric, Perisic
Argentina v Croatia odds
The latest Argentina v Croatia match odds can be seen on our snazzy betting widgets below.
Argentina v Croatia betting tips
Paddy Power News is your home for World Cup betting tips with expert insight from the likes of Peter Crouch, Mark Lawrenson and Phil Thompson. We’ll bring you their Argentina v Croatia betting tips as soon as they’ve spoken to Paddy!
- Check out Thommo’s Argentina v Croatia Bet Builder that clocks in at 13/1!
- 66/1 shot among these #WOP special bets for Argentina v Croatia
Argentina v Croatia prediction
Thommo: In a nutshell I think Argentina are going to win this and win it over the 90 minutes too. Argentina have been my pick from the start and I think it’s written in the stars for Lionel Messi to lift the World Cup trophy at his final World Cup.
Have Argentina been great? Well, no, not exactly, I think they have another, higher gear available to them but they’ve not found it yet and between now and the final they might just click into it and they’ve certainly been getting better as the tournament has progressed.
I think it’ll be a tight one, I don’t see too many goals being scored, probably just the three in a 2-1 win for Argentina and while Croatia won’t take it lying down, I don’t think they have enough firepower to get past an Argentina side who have more goals in them.
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