There remains a final touch, just one, but essential: a world title on Sunday would complete the masterpiece that is the career of Lionel Messi, a twirling genius who claims the status of the greatest footballer in history.
After the Argentinian’s hair-raising slalom leading to the third goal against Croatia (3-0), former English striker Gary Lineker pretended to wonder on Twitter: “Is there still a debate? About the Goat” (“ Greatest of all time “, the best player of all time).
As long as the kid from Rosario, who arrived at FC Barcelona at 13, has not enriched his trophy cabinet with the most prestigious of them, yes, there will be a debate.
And Sunday’s final is his last chance: he himself said that this World Cup, his fifth, would probably be his last, at 35.
For many Argentines, Messi is huge but there is still only one “Dios”, Diego Maradona, the “Pibe de Oro”, the one who brought them their second world title in 1986 at the end of a tournament. extraordinary.
And many other football lovers put Pelé and his three stars out of reach. In 2019, the “King” had himself established a hierarchy: “If you ask me if Maradona was better than Messi, yes, he was. Much better. »
four failures
Messi has however won much more than Maradona and Pelé. Seven Ballons d’Or, four Champions Leagues, an avalanche of championships and cups with Barcelona then Paris Saint-Germain, a Copa America in 2021, his only major trophy with Argentina, who had been waiting for this since 1993.
The awesome noh 10 has scored goals by the hundreds, enchanted the world with his dribbles, his passes, his inventions, his speed, which arouse the horror of opponents, the ecstasy of supporters, the admiring amazement of football lovers.
He is the captain of the Argentine selection, its top scorer (96 goals), the one who has worn the jersey the most (171 caps).
In the World Cup, he would not always have shone? With eleven goals and eight assists, he sits at the top of the most decisive players in the premier competition. Sunday, he will become the one who has played the most matches (26 in five editions), ahead of Lothar Matthaüs.
But the awesome noh 10 still hasn’t won it. He stumbled three times against Germany, including one in the final in 2014. And in 2018, he was disappointing against France in eighth (4-3), eclipsed by Kylian Mbappé, future world champion.
” An injustice “
Messi was born a year after Maradona’s masterpiece, in 1987, in Rosario, in the north of the country. Before leaving to build his legend in Spain, he was able to admire Maradona, who had returned from Europe to finish his career at Newell’s Old Boys, one of the two major clubs in his city, then at Boca Juniors.
He therefore knows perfectly well the weight of a world title.
“Football owes a World Cup to Messi”, said in 2017 Jorge Sampaoli, then coach of the Albiceleste, a few months before the failure of Russia.
In Doha, Spanish coach Luis Enrique, who trained Messi at Barça, abounds: “It would be an injustice for a player of the stature of Lionel Messi to retire without having won a World Cup. “It would be good if such a player [la] wins,” adds Matthaüs.
During this World Cup, Messi added a weapon to his panoply: a touch of aggressiveness in the attitude, which is so popular in Argentina.
In Qatar, he displayed an unknown face of lodger, vindictive and angry after the victory of the Albiceleste against the Netherlands, with his now famous ” Que miras, bobo? (What are you looking at, jerk?), addressed to an adversary.
Provocation
This sense of provocation was consubstantial with Maradona, like his excesses, this rage, this thirst for revenge on the whole earth.
For Oscar Ruggieri, teammate of the “Pibe de Oro” at the 1986 World Cup, “Maradona was superior in everything”: “Messi plays in a period when the referees protect him a lot. We touch his jersey and they pull out the yellow. Maradona was scarred by serial killers. »
Messi will never have the almost mystical aura that surrounds Maradona, victory or not on Sunday. But he’s not looking for her.
The speeches of the PSG striker remain rare and without relief. His slick image, less “bling-bling” than that of his Portuguese rival Cristiano Ronaldo, was only tarnished by a conviction for tax evasion in 2017, a few weeks before his marriage to Antonella, his childhood friend, mother of his three boys.
It is only with crampons on his feet that Messi is immense. If it is holy Sunday, he will be able to sit down at Maradona’s table without any possible dispute.
This one was not always tender with his younger brother, but he said this in 2010: “Now I know which player will occupy my place in football, and his name is Lionel Messi. »