He shed more tears as Argentina lost two Copa America finals in as many years. The nation cried with him when he lost the 2014 World Cup final against Germany. Gradually, they came around, as Messi continued to produce for season after season for club and country. While younger Argentinians took to Messi quickly - how could the Youtube generation resist his charms? - those who remembered Maradona at his finest took longer to win over. He was a "pecho frio" - cold hearted - one of the worst insults you can call a player in Argentinian football. Messi doesn't sing the anthem, they said. Messi's shy, reserved personality didn't help - especially when compared to the chest-beating patriot Maradona. Volodymyr Zelenskyy wanted the world to see this message of peace before the World Cup finalįinal stamp of greatness a long time comingīy five years into his professional career, it was obvious Messi was dancing alongside the gods - the Maradonas and the Pelés.īut while those two in particular earned their legacies early with World Cup wins (relatively young for Maradona at 25, extremely young for Pelé at 17), then spent the rest of their careers defending their reputations, Messi has almost been the opposite.Messi's coronation is complete and who's to argue he's not the GOAT? Probably somebody.Five talking points from Argentina's World Cup win over France.Read more about the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 That failure is now a gleaming success story. The only asterisk that hovered over his legacy was a failure to win the biggest prize in the sport - the World Cup Trophy. It seems destiny got in the way to deliver him the ultimate prize. Messi had been the best player in the tournament but was fading towards the end of the final.
It was only fitting that Messi's heir apparent, Kylian Mbappe, surged towards the end of this game, scoring three goals in a losing side. And we can, more comfortably now, crown him the finest men's footballer of all time.
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