My brilliant career: For Messi and Argentina, the ultimate prize awaits
As Lionel Messi approaches his second and likely last World Cup final, the stakes could hardly be higher.
The same goes for Argentina after more than 30 years of disappointment since they last won soccerās ultimate prize.
For Messi, victory against France at Lusail Stadium on Sunday is a chance to finally get his hands on the one major trophy that has eluded him in his storied career.
The 35-year-old great has been summoning some of his finest moments in an Argentina shirt to inspire his countryās run to the final.
āEach time we see him play, he makes us and the players feel something special,ā Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.
āThereās something about him that people like, not only Argentines.
āWe feel lucky and privileged to have him wear our shirt.ā
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Messiās place alongside Diego Maradona as one of Argentinaās two most iconic soccer stars has been secure for some time now.
But he is yet to emulate Maradonaās greatest achievement by leading his national team to a World Cup title.
Maradona did that in Mexico in 1986 and Messi has lived with the expectation of repeating the feat since he emerged as a prodigy at Barcelona nearly 20 years ago.
There have been numerous false dawns during that time.
There was the potential ādream teamā of Maradona as coach and Messi as star player in South Africa in 2010 ā but they went out in the quarter-finals after being beaten 4-0 by Germany.
In 2014, with Messi approaching his peak years, Argentina reached the final in Brazil but, again against Germany, Messi and co were beaten 1-0 after extra time.
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Now, heās risen to the occasion as the tournamentās co-leading scorer with France forward Kylian Mbappe on five goals.
Perhaps more notable have been his assists, such as the disguised pass for Nahuel Molinaās goal against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Then there was his mesmerising run, turning highly-rated Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol inside out, before setting up Julian Alvarez for Argentinaās tap-in third in the semis.
āItās at least something I can talk (about) with my kids one day that I guarded this great, great player,ā Gvardiol smiled on Thursday.
Those assists have been indicative of the fact that Messi can no longer do it on his own. The emergence of Alvarez, with four goals, has been vital to Argentinaās progress.
Messi doesnāt dominate for an entire 90 minutes anymore. Instead, he decides matches with key moments, andĀ has been more influential than at any of his previous four World Cups.
Argentina havenāt won the Cup since 1986 and if MessiĀ retires without ever winning it, how much longer will the soccer-crazy country have to wait?
No wonder each moment of Messi magic and every win is greeted with such an outpouring of emotion.
If this is his farewell tour, he has given his supporters a wild ride along the way.
And with or without a World Cup, Scaloni has no doubt about Messiās status as the greatest of all time.
āIt seems like we say that just because weāre Argentinians and we fall into the trap of being selfish because it is very Argentinian to say that,ā he said.
āBut I think there are no doubts.ā
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