Lionel Messi displays nerves of steel to score one of his best penalties ever, it was unstoppable

Lionel Messi netted an "unstoppable" penalty for Argentina in their World Cup semi-final against Croatia, and some are saying it's one of the best of his career to date.

Zlatko Dalic's side frustrated favourites Argentina in the opening stages with some precise and, at times, slow build-up play.

They dominated possession for large spells, pressing Lionel Messi out of the game.

In fact, Messi, who could be seen stretching his hamstring throughout the first-half, struggled to find space, even when he dropped into deeper areas.

At times, it looked like he was struggling. But then suddenly, in typical Messi-fashion, he would burst into life with a mazy run or a burst of pace.

And then on the half hour mark, Julian Alvarez was brought down by in-form goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.

Messi stepped up, took a deep breath and fired past Livakovic in emphatic fashion.

ITV co-commentator Ally McCoist went on to claim the effort was "unstoppable" and well, it's hard to disagree. Take a look at that spot-kick below.

Argentina have one foot in the final... and it's that man again!! 🤩🇦🇷

Lionel Messi overtakes Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina's top scorer at World Cup finals with 11 goals! 🙌#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/C8haTlVGb1

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 13, 2022

The game then began to slip away from underdogs Croatia, who struggled to deal with the attacking flair of Argentina.

Then, five minutes after Messi opened the scoring, Lionel Scaloni's side doubled their lead when Julian Alvarez ran from his own half before converting past Livakovic after some questionable defending.

Alvarez, who has scored three goals at this winter's World Cup, even looked a tad surprised by the amount of space he was allowed.

Little bit of luck, but he won't mind! 🙌

Julian Alvarez bags his third goal at this World Cup to put Argentina 2-0 up!! 🇦🇷

Croatia are going to need a stellar second half to turn this around... 😬#ITVFootball | #FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/WRtfQmKHY7

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) December 13, 2022

Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic attempted to play some mind games ahead of kick-off, saying all the pressure was on Messi and co.

He said: "We are playing the great Argentina, a terrific team led by Lionel Messi, they are highly-motivated but under more pressure than Croatia at this moment in time. They have more support than us and that is a handicap to us but they are under greater pressure than us.”

Dalic added: "The semi final-match against England in the last World Cup was the greatest match of all time, the game against Brazil (in the quarter-finals here) comes in second. If we win against Argentina, that would make it the greatest historical game for Croatia of all time.

“It is one of the most important, most significant matches for us - after just four years, to repeat the success would be such an achievement on the world stage. To do it with a new national team is fantastic and I believe it is a great success.”

Thoughts on that first-half? Let us know in the comments.