The situation
Messi achieved the great title that he was missing and that he resisted so much. Leo already has the World Cup, which separated him from eternity and differentiated him from Maradona, mainly. The current 10 emulated the other previous great 10 with the conquest of a title in which he also had a beastly incidence with 7 goals and 3 assists. All this helped him to be named best player of the tournament by FIFA. The award is offered by the Technical Committee, led by Arsene Wenger and Jurgen Klinsmann, who decided that he would be above the rest. Mbappé finished second in the standings and Modric, third. Messi thus closes a magical year with the national team. It all started with the conquest of the Copa América last summer in Brazil against the hosts, which finally broke Leo’s spell with the team. Shortly after came the Finalissima achieved at Wembley against Italy, another title, albeit of a lesser category, which decides the best team between the Eurocup champion and the Copa América champion. With the World Cup, Messi already has all the possible titles with the national team and even improves on Maradona, who could never win a Copa América. To all this we must add the four Champions Leagues and the eleven leagues won with Barça (one of the leagues with PSG), plus endless Cups and Super Cups. A brilliant career that places him in the Olympus of the best players in history and that makes him forget a series of previous disappointments with Argentina. T he closest he had come to winning a World Cup before was in 2014, when he reached the final and lost it by a goal in extra time by Götze.
The details
Messi already said that this final was his last game in the World Cup. He will be 39 years old when the next one is played in 2026, that of Mexico, the United States and Canada. In fact, for this one from Qatar he had prepared himself thoroughly and paid attention to detail. His performance has been excellent, especially in the crossovers from the round of 16 to the final. In addition, Argentina was delighted that two other of its members, Enzo Fernández and Dibu Martínez, won the prizes for best young player and best goalkeeper respectively.
