L. Messi: "Playing in the final of the World Cup is impressive for the last time" © PA Images

Lionel Messi reached the final in his last World Cup.

It will be the second World Cup final for the 35-year-old forward in his career. In the first, after extra time, he had to admit Germany's advantage with a score of 0:1, but now the veteran hoped for a different outcome.

After the match, Leo Messi said: "It is impressive to play in a final in my last World Cup. There is a long way until the next World Cup, many years, and it is obvious that due to my age, I will not reach another championship."

"I will play in the second final of my World Cup, I hope that this time the outcome will be different," - said the leader of Argentina about the final.

About the semi-final with Croatia, the veteran commented: "I felt good. It was not easy, we were tired, but the team came back strong and played very serious matches. We knew they would have a lot of ball control, as they have amazing players in the middle of the field, but we were well prepared for the match.

"This team is very intelligent, they know how to read every episode of the match. As Scaloni said: we knew how to suffer when we needed to suffer and how to handle the ball when we have the ball. We have a very strong coaching staff that leaves no room for improvisation.

"We knew that they read the game very well. We were not disappointed that we had to run from one side of the field to the other, we knew that ball control is their strong point," L. Messi said.