At his sixth , Lionel Messi is just one fixture away from scaling the beautiful game’s greatest summit again. The 39-year-old has enjoyed a practically unrivalled career, putting together a glittering track record and repeatedly rising to the big occasion, including having served up a series of star turns at FIFA’s flagship men’s event. Now he has the opportunity to add further icing to an already extraordinary cake by claiming a second World Cup crown.
The enthralling, Messi-inspired come-from-behind means that the Argentina captain has made it to a third final at the global extravaganza. Only five players have managed this feat (none of whom have matched Messi’s level of involvement in all three campaigns): Brazilian icons Cafu, Pele and Ronaldo and German greats Lothar Matthaus and Pierre Littbarski. To mark this achievement, we recap the Argentinian ace’s trio of runs to the final of football’s ultimate stage.
While their neighbours and bitter rivals succumbed in the semi-finals in spectacular style, La Albiceleste ground their way to the showpiece match on Brazilian soil. Alejandro Sabella’s troops needed extra time to scrape past Switzerland 1-0 in the round of 16 before edging past Belgium – also by a single goal – in 90 minutes in the quarter-finals and pipping the Netherlands on penalties following a goalless draw in the last four.
Messi went into the final having drawn a blank in the knockout rounds, although he had played a crucial role against the Swiss by laying on Di María’s last-gasp winner. Nevertheless, the pressure remained squarely on the diminutive wizard’s shoulders: as the talisman of an all-conquering Barcelona team, he was by this point widely regarded as the best player on the planet.
The final pitted the Argentines against old foes Germany, who had undergone a reboot that had borne fruit in the shape of a stylistic refresh and a highly promising generation of players. While Die Mannschaft had traditionally been known as physically imposing juggernauts, they had moved away from that blueprint under the stewardship of Joachim Low, who favoured a short-passing game centred on nimble, quick-thinking technicians.
As for Sabella’s side – whose approach, ironically enough, revolved around robustness – their hopes of glory were mainly pinned on Messi, as has so often been the case throughout his career.
What the fiercely contested fixture lacked in lustre, it made up for in intensity. Just like four years earlier, the proceedings after 90 minutes finished scoreless, with the Argentinians left lamenting a couple of major missed chances, including one first-half effort notably screwed wide by Gonzalo Higuaín.
Mario Gotze was to prove the match-winner midway through the second period of extra time, conjuring up an exquisite control to cushion Andre Schurrle’s lofted cross from the left and then firing a superb volley across goal and into the net.
This made it a hat-trick of trophyless tournaments at the global extravaganza for Messi and was by far his biggest heartbreak of the lot given how close Argentina had come in an encounter in which they largely stifled their much-fancied opponents.
The campaign in the Middle Eastern country was arguably Argentina’s most impressive of the Messi era and not only because it culminated with him adding his name to the most famous honour roll in world football. Granted, it began with a hiccup – a shock loss to Saudi Arabia – but that galvanised La Pulga and Co, who swiftly regrouped, putting Poland and Mexico to the sword to top their group, and never looked back.
Lionel Scaloni’s charges went from strength to strength thereafter, ousting Australia in the last 16 and battling past the Netherlands – with Messi on target again – in a thrilling contest that they appeared to have sewn up but which ended up going all the way to a shoot-out. Scaloni’s band of brothers recovered from that scare to ease into the trophy decider with a ruthlessly routine 3-0 demolition of Croatia.
However, the final itself – which will go down as one of the most memorable matches in football history – was anything but plain sailing.
There was little sign of the drama to come in the first half in Lusail on 18 December, with La Albiceleste threatening to run riot in a distinctly one-sided affair. Messi’s 23rd minute opener from the spot was no less than his team deserved for a dominant display, and Scaloni’s men were in dreamland when they doubled their advantage 13 minutes later. Alexis Mac Allister clipped the ball to the back post to find Di María, one of the standout performers on the day, who stroked home with aplomb to cap off a sweeping, flowing move.
The bout looked to be done and dusted but, in an echo of the showdown against the Dutch, it would suddenly spark back into life. France’s half-time changes helped shift the momentum, although the biggest factor in their revival was undoubtedly a masterclass from Kylian Mbappe, who took the occasion by the scruff of the neck and dragged his side back into contention. The striker’s quick-fire double with around ten minutes remaining levelled the scores, leaving Argentina staring down the barrel of extra time yet again.
After a barnstorming first 90 minutes, the additional 30 did not disappoint, delivering an abundance of action and entertainment. La Albiceleste were again in raptures when Messi pounced to poke home a rebound from close range shortly after the extra-time interval. However, determined not to be outdone, that man Mbappe made his presence felt once more, completing his treble by equalising with a 118th-minute spot kick. Right at the death, Emiliano Martinez pulled off a miraculous save from Randal Kolo Muani to take a monumental tussle to penalties.
Martinez was the hero in the shoot-out, denying Kingsley Coman, while Messi was among the scorers as Argentina clinched their third World Cup title – and their iconic forward’s first at the age of 35, seemingly crowning one of the most remarkable international careers ever seen.
While many questioned whether he would still have the appetite after the euphoric exertions of 2022, Messi stands on the brink of more global glory at the age of 39. Whatever happens in the showpiece, the evergreen veteran is all set to make history by establishing himself as just the second player to have lined up in three World Cup finals, following in the footsteps of Brazilian legend Cafu.
After cruising through the group stage, Argentina have had to draw on all their reserves of resilience en route to the final. Scaloni’s side struggled past Cabo Verde 3-2 after extra time in the round of 32, fought back from two goals down to overcome Egypt by the same scoreline in the last 16, withstood a strong Switzerland charge to triumph 3-1 after 120 minutes in the quarter-finals and produced another epic comeback to overcome England 2-1 in a rip-roaring semi-final.
Now Messi will bid to make it back-to-back world titles by prevailing in what promises to be another highly charged clash against Spain, a country that means so much to the maestro, as it was there that he first shot to prominence.
Sources: FIFA Official
