Piers Morgan tips Croatia to beat Lionel Messi’s Argentina but expects them to lose to France

Piers Morgan has risked upsetting Lionel Messi fans by tipping Croatia to beat Argentina in Tuesday night’s World Cup semi-final.

There are now just four teams left in Qatar, with France due to take on surprise package Morocco in the other last-four clash on Wednesday.

Morgan thinks Croatia will get past Argentina and France will get the job done against Morocco, setting up a rematch of the 2018 final in Russia. He has then backed Les Bleus to defend their crown against Luka Modric and co at the Lusail Stadium on Sunday. 

Piers Morgan has given his prediction for how the rest of the World Cup will play out

Morgan expects Lionel Messi’s Argentina to bow out at the semi-final stage against Croatia

‘PREDICTION: Croatia will beat Argentina, France will beat Morocco, and France will beat Croatia in the final to win the World Cup,’ Morgan posted on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

Morgan is close friends with Messi’s great rival Cristiano Ronaldo, and secured the bombshell interview with the Portuguese star last month that led to his contract at Manchester United being terminated.

The TV presenter has made it clear that he views Ronaldo as a better player than Messi, and has aimed several digs at the Argentine during the World Cup.

After Argentina’s shock opening game defeat against Saudi Arabia, Morgan responded to a tweet telling people to describe Messi in one word by writing: ‘Lost-to-Saudi-Arabia-Man’.

He then hit out at the forward’s behaviour in Argentina’s quarter-final win against the Netherlands on Friday in an ill-tempered match that saw 15 players booked and Denzel Dumfries sent off.

Morgan thinks Croatia will lose to France in the final for the second time in four years

After seeing off England in the quarter-finals, Morgan expects France to go on and win in Qatar

‘So yesterday, Lionel Messi abused the referee, abused the rival coach and abused one of his opponents. Methinks if Ronaldo did that, it would get a tad more media attention,’ Morgan wrote on social media on Saturday morning.

Messi’s performance on the pitch was hailed by tennis star Andy Murray after he registered a goal and an assist, but Morgan insisted the 35-year-old should have been given a red card.

‘Messi shouldn’t have been on the pitch. Should have got a 2nd booking & red card,’ Morgan retorted.

Messi will get the chance to prove Morgan wrong as he looks to guide his side into their second World Cup final in eight years. 

Argentina were beaten by Germany in the 2014 final, but still have hopes of going one step further this time around, while Messi is just one goal behind Kylian Mbappe in the race for the Golden Boot.