Reds to play in both World Cup semi-finals

The four matches played over Friday and Saturday contained many thrills, spills, celebrations and heartache. Now, just four teams remain.

These sides will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday night, respectively, to determine who advances to Sunday's showpiece finale at the Lusail Stadium – and the Reds could well feature in this fixture.

Centre-backs Lisandro Martinez and Raphael Varane both look set to appear in the semi-finals, knowing that victory will see them take yet another gargantuan step towards World Cup glory.

Martinez made a superb contribution against Australia in the Round of 16, and continued as part of Lionel Scaloni’s backline against the Netherlands in the last eight.

The United defender looked assured on the left side of a back three, and played a key role as the South Americans survived a late scare, and extra time, to succeed on penalties.

Croatia stand in the way of Argentina and a first World Cup final since 2014, where Germany defeated them.

Of course, these two sides were drawn in the same group at the 2018 tournament in Russia, with Croatia sweeping aside La Albiceleste comfortably, 3-0.

As finalists that year, and having beaten one of the 2022 favourites Brazil in the quarter-finals on Friday, the Vatreni will undoubtedly prove to be stern opponents once more for Martinez’s nation.

This match is being held at the Lusail Stadium and will be played on Tuesday 13 December at 19:00 GMT. It certainly isn’t one to be missed.

For our other Red still in the competition, Varane and France face Morocco, who have already claimed the scalps of Belgium, Spain and Portugal in Qatar.

The first-ever African side to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup, Morocco were largely written off when they were drawn in Group F with Belgium, Croatia and Canada.

But the Atlas Lions topped their group and have been on a remarkable run, defeating Spain and Portugal in the previous knockout rounds to reach the last four.

France, on the other hand, come into this match with much expectation, having lifted the trophy in 2018.

Les Bleus eliminated England in the quarter-finals 2-1, in an entertaining match which saw Harry Kane score one penalty and miss another, as Varane’s fellow Reds Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw and Marcus Rashford were narrowly defeated.

France, like Brazil and Argentina, were tipped as one of the 2022 World Cup favourites, and Kylian Mbappe, Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann in particular have made the difference for Didier Deschamps’s side so far.

The clash between the reigning champions and the tournament’s surprise package will commence at 19:00 GMT on Wednesday 14 December at the Al Bayt Stadium.

Both Martinez and Varane will be eager to progress once more, and if they do, the prospect of two United centre-backs locking horns on the biggest stage of all adds even more intrigue to an already remarkable and surprising tournament.