📸 Picture perfect: The first two World Cup quarter-finals in pictures | OneFootball

Croatia and Argentina are World Cup semi-finalists. Brazil and the Netherlands are heading home.

Here is the story from Friday’s World Cup quarter-finals, told in pictures.

The quarter-finals kicked off with World Cup favourites Brazil taking on Croatia.

One Croatia fan sported what may well be the tournament’s most detailed face paint.

Dominik Livaković was the star throughout but it seemed Neymar had stolen the show when he danced through the Croatia defence to break the deadlock halfway through extra-time.

Of course, Brazilian hearts were broken in the 117th minute.

And Livaković was the hero again, saving from Rodrygo before Marquinhos hit the post. Croatia were flawless from the spot, scoring four from four, to head through.

And the Argentina fans had an incredible time watching it all unfold however they could ahead of their match with the Netherlands.

Brazil boss Tite confirmed his departure after the Seleção’s defeat.

And Lionel Messi played a magical pass to assist Nahuel Molina and set Argentina on their way.

The foreground joy, the background despair. The World Cup in an image.

The Netherlands struggled for a way back into the game.

But Denzel Dumfries brought down Marcos Acuña in the area …

… and Lionel Messi made no mistake from the spot.

That was far from game over, though, with Wout Weghorst pulling one back.

Before the tension boiled over late on.

And Weghorst struck again in the 101st minute to send the game to extra-time.

There were just seconds of extra-time remaining when Argentina hit the post.

But Emi Martínez was the hero in a shootout yet again.

Argentina live to fight another day.