In 2022 Lionel Messi did something that felt like it could not be real. He carried Argentina to the World Cup title with seven goals and three assists, produced some of the finest football ever seen at a tournament, and finally got the one thing his career had been missing. The World Cup. The golden trophy. The thing that settled the argument for a generation of football fans who had spent years saying he could never do it on the biggest stage.
Now he is 38 and doing it again. At Inter Miami. In North America. One last time.
The questions about his fitness and whether he can physically handle a full World Cup are legitimate. He is not the player who was tearing full backs apart at Barcelona in 2015. That version of Messi is gone. But the version that exists now, older and slower but smarter and more composed than ever, is still capable of deciding games in moments that nobody else on the planet can create.
Argentina under Scaloni have built a system designed to get the best from Messi without overloading him. They do not need him to press and run for ninety minutes. They need him to receive the ball in the right spaces at the right moments and do things that other players simply cannot do. That is still absolutely within his capabilities at 38.
The motivation factor cannot be overstated either. Di Maria has retired. This is the last time this group of players goes to a World Cup together. Messi knows it. The entire Argentina dressing room knows it. They are defending champions and every player in that squad will run through a wall for him. That kind of collective motivation is worth more than most people give it credit for.
If Argentina win it again with Messi producing even one or two decisive moments in the knockouts, that conversation about the greatest player of all time does not need to be had ever again. It is already done.
One more. Just one more.
Let me know your thoughts.