Piers Morgan takes cheeky Lionel Messi dig involving Diego Maradona after Argentina captain scores penalty against Croatia

British journalist Piers Morgan has taken a cheeky dig at Lionel Messi after he scored a penalty in Argentina's semi-final clash with Croatia at the 2022 FIFA World Cup on Tuesday, December 13.

The Albiceleste skipper broke the deadlock for the Copa America champions in the 34th minute by coolly slotting home a penalty for his fifth goal of the tournament.

The strike was his 11th in the competition. It got him past Gabriel Batistuta's national record of 10, making Messi the most prolific marksman for Argentina at the World Cups.

A fan of his appeared to use the opportunity to take a dig at Morgan, a devout Cristiano Ronaldo supporter, and tweeted.

"LIONEL MESSI PASSES GABRIEL BATISTUTA TO BECOME ARGENTINA'S ALL-TIME LEADING WORLD CUP GOALSCORER! 🇦🇷 @piersmorgan 😂 #Messi𓃵 is the real football 🐐 not your friend Ronaldo 😂👊"

Morgan, in response, took a dig at Messi involving another Argentine great, Diego Maradona, by calling the Paris Saint-Germain ace 'second best'. He wrote:

"Messi’s brilliant, 2nd best Argentinian [goat emoji] [thumbs up]"

The broadcaster indirectly referred to Maradona as Argentina's greatest ever player. The legendary forward led them to a World Cup title in 1986, their second in history and last in the competition.

Messi, for all his records and achievements, is yet to lift the trophy. That has kept the debate about whether he's in the same bracket as Maradona on the international stage, raging.

The closest the former Barcelona star came to becoming a FIFA World Cup winner was in 2014 when the Sky Blues reached the finals, but eventually lost to Germany in extra-time.

With Argentina currently leading Croatia in the semi-finals, Messi could have another shot at glory in what's also his farewell appearance at the World Cup.

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Lionel Messi inspiring Argentina to another FIFA World Cup final

Argentina are leading Croatia 2-0 with just about half an hour remaining, and unsurprisingly have Lionel Messi's fingerprints all over the game.

The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner scored a dubious penalty in the first half to put the Copa America champions in front before setting up the second goal by Julian Alvarez.

With Vatreni looking far from their best, Lionel Messi and co. are cruising and look poised to book their place in Sunday's showpiece clash at the Lusail Stadium.