The story started when a 13-year-old boy left residence for Barcelona. It meandered from one wonderful chapter to a different as he gained title after title in Spain and throughout Europe, amassing Ballon d’Ors by the bucketful alongside the way in which. However it additionally had moments of heartbreaks, often at World Cups, and notably in 2014 when he got here inside whiffing distance of that elusive trophy.
The Lionel Messi saga got here full circle on a mad Sunday night time in Doha, culminating in a swansong goals are fabricated from, as Argentina beat France (3-3 on the finish of additional time, 4-2 on penalties) in arguably the best ultimate of all time.
Overlook his nice membership rival Cristiano Ronaldo (sorry, it’s true), the World Cup cemented Messi’s place because the third member of soccer’s highest pantheon, alongside Diego Maradona and Pele, the 2 different GOAT (Best of All Time) candidates.
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If it was laborious sufficient to choose between Pele and Maradona, Messi has added a 3rd leg to soccer’s unanswerable query: Is he forward of them, or behind them? However, tempting as it might be, it’s somewhat quickly to get into that debate.
Aside from his 4 Champions League titles, 10 La Liga crowns, one Ligue 1 title, one Copa America, and 7 Ballon d’Ors, it has taken 172 internationals together with a file 26 on the World Cup, and 98 targets, for Messi to change into a world champion. It’s a tag that Pele earned at 17, Diego Maradona at 25, and Kylian Mbappe at 19. He could also be 35, however Messi actually couldn’t ask for extra. For it might have taken some time for Messi to enter this membership, however entered it he has.
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He mentioned on Sunday that he wish to stick round with the nationwide staff for some extra time earlier than he hangs up the white-and-blue jersey. “I need to take pleasure in a few extra matches being a world champion,” Messi mentioned. “I really like soccer, what I do. I take pleasure in being a part of the nationwide staff, the group,” he instructed sports activities channel TyC.
The “group”, solid so nicely by the opposite Lionel (Argentina supervisor Scaloni) that it’s referred to as “La Scaloneta”, has helped Messi be at his finest once more. Aside from younger gamers reminiscent of Enzo Fernandes, who famously went on social media to request Messi to not retire in 2016 and Julian Alvarez, whose images searching for Messi’s autograph in 2012 went viral final week, it’s a bunch that has Messi’s previous pal Angel di Maria, and Sergio Aguero, who might solely be within the stands at Lusail Stadium on account of a coronary heart ailment however stepped on the pitch to hold Messi on his shoulders.
“He’s the most effective in historical past, little question about it and he confirmed that within the sport. He’s been displaying in throughout the entire match… at this age,” Rodrigo de Paul, one other key member of the group, instructed ESPN after the ultimate.
Scaloni mentioned on Sunday that he was delighted Messi wished to stay round, and {that a} spot could be saved for him even within the subsequent World Cup. “He’s greater than entitled to determine what he desires to do along with his profession. It’s such an enormous pleasure to educate him. The whole lot he transmits to his staff mates is one thing unparalleled,” he added, although it could be a bridge too far.
Quickly after, movies shared by Nicolas Otamendi confirmed Messi leaping with the trophy on a desk within the altering room. And the maestro, who didn’t attend the post-match press convention, was seen main the staff out of the blended zone — barefoot, the World Cup cradled in his arms like a boy along with his favorite toy.
An open-top bus parade by means of the Lusail Boulevard later within the night time threw site visitors out of drugs. And because it did, it appeared to attach Doha with the flooded Plaza de la Republica in Buenos Aires, and with far-flung locations throughout the globe — from Kolkata to Karachi, Sydney to Sarajevo, London to Lagos — the place the title Messi, world champion or not, all the time spelt magic.