Croatia should be incredibly proud making the World Cup semi-final for the second straight time. Not many people had given them a chance going into the tournament, despite the fact that they had made the final in 2018. They proved though that last time was not a fluke. Celtic’s Josip Juranovic was an integral part of the team.
Croatia suffered defeat in the semi-final against Argentina. Lionel Messi was on song on the night, scoring from the spot and then setting up Julian Alvarez with a classic run down the right flank, having started near the halfway line.
Argentina are now into the World Cup final, while Croatia will be looking to win the third place game.
Juranovic seems to have been very impressed with what he saw from Messi on the night and hailed the Argentine as the ‘best player in the world’ and called playing against him a ‘dream’. As reported by The Scottish Sun, the Celtic full-back said:
"“Before the penalty kick we had a shot on goal and we should have won a corner.“Those little mistakes turned the game in their favour.“Luck was on their side today, but what can I say…there is one Leo Messi.“For me he is the best player in the world, when he receives the ball he works miracles and wonders!“The Argentines looked at our game against Brazil and prepared for us.“I can’t say we were tired. If necessary, we will give the last atom of strength.“We started the game well, but we lacked the final pass.“Argentina have a lot of good players and I congratulate them on advancing.“But still Messi is the one, there is no more to say.“What’s it like to play against him?“It’s a dream, but we wanted to win the game, so I wouldn’t look at it that way.”"
Celtic star makes Messi claim after Croatia’s World Cup defeat
Croatia should be very proud of the tournament that they had, and even managed to get a win over Brazil in the quarter-finals, which will go down as a highlight in the country’s footballing history.
Juranovic himself had a standout tournament. He was a nailed on starter from the very beginning and showed his quality on both ends of the pitch.
As a result, it looks like a Parkhead exit might not be far away for the Croatian right-back, who is being linked with European giants like Chelsea, Manchester United, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Real Sociedad, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United, Everton, Torino and several others. Let’s see what the future holds.
When it comes to Messi and Argentina, they will be looking to end a 36-year wait for a World Cup in the final.