Croatia and Morocco will compete for a World Cup 2022 bronze medal in Saturday's third-place playoff at the Khalifa International Stadium, and neither team should turn down a podium finish on the biggest platform.

Few attackers have faced the masked warrior that is Josko Gvardiol and beaten the RB Leipzig youth, but even one of Europe's most in-demand defenders was no match for a 35-year-old Lionel Messi.

Prior to his humiliation of a guy 15 years his junior, Messi scored from the penalty spot in Argentina's semi-final against Croatia, before Julian Alvarez's solo run delivered La Albiceleste their second, although with some slices of luck after a few of ricochets.

Argentina's third was everything but fortunate, as Messi rolled back the years on the right before finding up Alvarez to tap home Argentina's third and deny Croatia a second consecutive berth in a World Cup final - against 2018 opponents France, no less.

Argentina easily defeated Zlatko Dalic's team 3-0 in their semi-final, while the Atlas Lions fought courageously against France but were defeated by two goals to zero
 

Dalic's team made the 2018 World Cup final and the 2022 semi-finals without winning a knockout game in regular time, and they are no strangers to bronze medal contests, having defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in the 1998 third-place playoff during their debut World Cup campaign.

Croatia, a team that has consistently demonstrated its prowess in extra time and penalty shootouts, will not be relieved to learn that the third-place playoff has never been decided on spot kicks, and the uninhibited Morocco fanbase will no doubt continue to bang their drums to the maximum for one last ride.

Croatia's semi-final loss to Argentina was made worse by injury, as midfield fulcrum Marcelo Brozovic was forced to quit in the 50th minute owing to pain and is now a significant question for the third-place playoff.

Gvardiol, 20, required injections to play despite the discomfort of a foot ailment in midweek, and Dalic has stated that he would not risk any player who is not 100% healthy, so Lovro Majer and Kristijan Jakic should be on standby to cover for Brozovic in the centre if necessary.

Josip Sutalo, another highly rated centre-back, may replace Gvardiol, while Ivan Perisic could keep his spot on the left as he attempts to become Croatia's all-time leading World Cup goalscorer, with the Tottenham Hotspur star presently tied with Davor Suker on six.

Right-back Josip Juranovic was also unable to participate in training on Friday, thus Josip Stanistic may be called upon to stand in for his injured colleague here.

Regragui remarkably recovered all of Aguerd, Mazraoui, and Saiss for Morocco's semi-final, but the wounded triad pulled out one by one - in Aguerd's case shortly before the first whistle.

Saiss was also taken off after 20 minutes after being outpaced by Olivier Giroud, and he has been ruled out, while Mazraoui was taken off at the half-time interval, leaving Regragui back where he started in terms of injuries.

Regragui is unlikely to risk Mazraoui or Aguerd from the start of Saturday's game, therefore a return to a 4-3-3 formation may be in order as Yahia Attiyat Allah and Selim Amallah try to push their way back into the starting lineup.

Croatia possible starting lineup:
Livakovic; Stanisic, Lovren, Gvardiol, Sosa; Modric, Jakic, Kovacic; Vlasic, Kramaric, Perisic

Morocco possible starting lineup:
Bono; Hakimi, El-Yamiq, Dari, Attiyat-Allah; Ounahi, Amrabat, Amallah; Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Boufal