Argentina celebrate World Cup Final appearance: Paper reaction

The most dominant run by a small country since Uruguay’s two World Cup titles in the first half of the 20th Century came to an end at the Lusail Stadium on Tuesday as Croatia fell to Argentina.

Here’s the reaction from those two nations as well as the rest of the world.

Argentine coverage

The Clarín is in an understandably triumphant mood as it says “Going for the Third World Cup Title”:

The Cronica crafts a clever play on diminutive Lionel Messi’s “La Pulga” (“The Flea”) nickname:

El Dia is “dreaming big”

La Gaceta says that this is but a step toward the big dream:

La Voz leads with a photo that featured in many papers as it celebrates the “thrashing” of Croatia:

El Hincha goes understated with “It’s a Feeling”:

Croatian coverage

The Jutarnji List strikes an optimistic tone as it says “Heads Up, Let’s Go for the Bronze”:

It was the same message from the Sportske Novosti cover:

The Dnevnik was one of many Croatian news outlets to focus on the decisions that went against the team in the match. In their lead story, they go with Croatian manager Zlatko Dalić questioning the VAR officials:

International coverage

England’s the Daily Star gives Messi the Michael Jordan treatment:

The mood for independence is strong in Scotland. England’s exploits at this World Cup never featured on The Scotsman’s front page, but Argentina does:

In Portugal it’s back to focusing on club soccer for the Record with Ronaldo’s rival relegated to the bottom of the page:

In France, understandably, the focus is on today’s match against Morocco:

But L’Equipe found a little room for “Messi and the Wonders”:

For La Opinión, out of Los Angeles, the focus was on Messi’s assist but not on the goalscorers:

Italy’s Corriere dello Sport says that Messi is now approaching Diego Maradona:

Even Argentina’s rivals across the River Plate in Uruguay are treating Messi with reverence:

And finally, Argentina’s win gets the below-the-fold treatment in Qatar’s English-language paper, The Peninsula: