World Cup 2018: 4 key battles that decided Croatia's win over Argentina

#3 Javier Mascherano vs Luka Modric

The best LM10 on the pitch, and by a long distance

See how funny that sounds on paper? On the pitch too, it was just as stupid and one sided.

Despite several claims that Mascherano was shot, and is no longer the player he was a good few years back, Sampaoli stuck with him in midfield, and this is just nature doing its job. This is what you get for playing one of the slowest players against a midfield that has both Rakitic and Modric.

The goal aside, Luka Modric was having a decent day, but put him side by side with Mascherano and things looked so much better. Modric's long balls caused a few problems in the first half, but the goal just elevated him to the next.

Mascherano was also the one who was responsible for the third goal. Instead of getting up and playing till the referee's whistle, he was busy protesting for an offside - which was duly ignored by both the official and the Croats, and the ball ended up in the net with minimal interference.

All said, we will still see Mascherano in the third match, and we will have no idea why.