The Argentine achieves his long-awaited World Cup and leaves Qatar with several records
BARCELONA, 18 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Argentine Leo Messi will be able to retire calmly when he decides to do so after winning the World Cup for ‘his’ Argentina this Sunday, December 18, 2022, being the protagonist in the tournament achieving several new records in it and culminating his great football work with his long-awaited Copa del Mundo, the one that so many times, up to four, he had previously searched for without success.
Messi is the ‘Flea’, the ’10’ or ‘D10S’… But he is already Don Lionel Andrés Messi Cuccittini in Argentina who –in part– had criticized him so many times. With a great captaincy and presence in Qatar 2022, pulling the team after the unexpected and hard defeat against Saudi Arabia in its premiere, Leo Messi has been able to fulfill the dream of winning a World Cup with Argentina, the third for the South American country after those of Argentina 1978 and Mexico 1986.
He triumphed at Barça, with 35 official titles won (more than anyone in the entity) in addition to being the all-time top scorer for the centenary Catalan club (678) and who played the most official matches (778). With Argentina, he began to silence rumors when he led his team in the 2021 Copa América. And, in Qatar 2022, he finally has his World Cup. Two pending challenges achieved in just one year.
At 35 years of age, the Argentine captain was beginning to smile at Paris Saint-Germain and was in better shape for this appointment in which he has paid off that half outstanding debt with his country. He managed, with his goals and assists, to take the ‘albiceleste’ and the almost 46 million Argentines to football Eden.
In what could (except for final surprise) be his farewell to the tournament, Messi opened up before the final won over France. “It will surely be my last World Cup and my last opportunity to achieve the great dream that we all want. We hope to continue doing what we have been doing with this group. To continue growing game by game,” he told the media from Qatar.
Leo Messi did not walk in the Persian Gulf, he triumphed in it. After scoring against Saudi Arabia (in the surprising initial defeat), they repeated the experience against Mexico, Australia, the Netherlands and Croatia, also pulling their own with a double in the final against France, agonizing and determined on penalties. The one from Rosario took 10 minutes of play to open, with that goal from Argentina (from a penalty) in the 1-2 draw against the Saudis.
Against Mexico, the second game of the group and almost an early final, Messi opened the scoring on 64′ with his masterful left foot and laid the rug for victory (2-0). And, against Australia, already in the round of 16 after beating Poland, Messi helped seal the pass to the quarterfinals with another goal, the first in World Cup qualifiers, with a shot placed on 35′.
The maximum tension appeared against the Netherlands, in the quarterfinals. In a tough and intense game, with several scuffles between the Albicelestes and the ‘Oranjes’, Leo Messi scored a penalty (he repeated in the fateful shootout) and equaled the record of 10 goals with Argentina in World Cups held by Gabriel Batistuta. And he surpassed it against Croatia, in the semifinals, with the 1-0 penalty.
THE MESSI-MARADONA DEBATE; CLOSED?
Much was blamed on Messi, already in his best days with FC Barcelona in which he won 10 Leagues, 4 Champions Leagues, 3 European Super Cups and 3 Club World Cups -among those 35 titles-, which with Argentina he did not he played at the same level and that, with a team made to his measure, he was not capable of winning anything.
After losing in the Brazil 2014 final, the troubles of losing two continental finals and even saying goodbye, those mouths were partially silenced on July 10, 2021 when Argentina beat Brazil (1-0) in Maracana. A ‘Maracanazo’ that was worth the long-awaited Copa América for a Messi who was one of the two top scorers and the best assistant in the tournament, as well as being proclaimed the best player.
And in Qatar he took that step forward, that definitive step to be considered by all, all, the best Argentine player in history and, who knows, the best in the world. Undoubtedly, winning this World Cup that Diego Armando Maradona did win at the Mexico 86 event ignites once and for all the debate about whether “Fluff” was better, because Messi also already has his World Cup.
MESSI, A MAN OF RECORDS
Leo Messi is a man of records, and also in World Cups. He is one of the six players who have participated in five World Cups –a figure shared with Antonio Carbajal, Lothar Matthäus, Rafa Márquez, Guillermo Ochoa, Andrés Guardado and Cristiano Ronaldo–.
In all of them he has had time to set several records, some in this Qatar 2022 event. In Qatar he surpassed the German Matthäus as the player with the most matches played in World Cups, with a total of 26 after this final at the Lusail Stadium.
But, above all, the Argentine ’10’ garnered two valuable records in his country. On the one hand, he will surpass Gabriel Batistuta as the ‘Albiceleste’ top scorer in World Cups (13 to the 10 scored by ‘Batigol’). And he is the player from his country who has scored in the most World Cups, in up to four (2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022). Nobody before, neither Batistuta himself nor Diego Armando Maradona could do it (they scored in three World Cups).
As for the late Maradona, with whom he is compared so much, Leo Messi equaled his 8 assists in World Cups and surpassed him in goals scored (13 by Messi for 8 by Maradona), so in Qatar he surpassed ‘Pelusa’ as the top contributor offensive (goals plus assists) in the history of Argentine soccer in World Cup events.
FIFA states that Messi, among others, has the peculiar record of having been named the ‘MVP’ of a World Cup match the most times. The award for the best player in a game, created in 2002, has been received by Messi more times than any other player, up to a total of 9 times.
In addition, the 4 that he won in Brazil 2014 constitute a record in the same edition, shared with the Dutchman Wesley Sneijder (South Africa 2010). The seven-time Ballon d’Or player already lifted the long-awaited World Cup trophy, as well as the trophy for the best player of the tournament, on the night in Lusail, as Argentina’s captain.