Online Reporter
ATLANTA. – Lionel Messi is the KING, he is the GOAT and on Sunday he is set to become the FIRST captain in FIFA World Cup history to lead his team to three finals on Sunday.
The 39-year-old inspired Argentina to a comeback 2-1 win over England on Wednesday as he provided both assists for goals by Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez.
Before taking Argentina to the final of this FIFA World Cup, Messi had also led them to the finals of the 2014 and 2022 editions.
He won the trophy in 2022 and Argentina will be trying to be the first nation to defend the World Cup since Brazil did it in 1962.
“I think we showed again [today] what we’ve been doing for years. This team plays free-flowing, high-quality football.
“We’re patient and we know how to read the key moments in a game. I think we dictated the game from the start.
“Although we didn’t create any clear chances before half-time, we were in control and saw a lot of the ball. And after they scored, we were even better.”
Messi finally won the World Cup, aged 35, in what he said was his last game in the tournament and – depending on your point of view – cemented his place as football’s greatest ever player.
Four years before that, aged 31, many – including those around him – felt he had played his final World Cup game and would end his career without winning it.
And here he is at 39, having helped take England to the cleaners and send Argentina to their second World Cup final in a row.
His next hurdle is a battle against Spain, where he largely made his name in Barcelona colours.
“He’s the best player in history, I don’t know what else he would have to do to prove that. The majority of Spaniards love him,” said his national team boss Lionel Scaloni.
BBC pundit Micah Richards said: “They have Lionel Messi. They have the ‘GOAT’. The greatest of all time.”
His statistics are mind blowing.
- He completed nine dribbles and assisted two goals against England – the first player on record (from 1966 onwards) to do so in a single World Cup knockout game.
- The entire England team combined completed seven successful dribbles in Atlanta.
- Messi had seven touches in the opposition box – the same as every English player added together. Ditto his four chances created.
- He also put in a game-high nine crosses. And by far the most important, he set up both of Argentina’s goals.
- This summer Messi became the all-time top scorer at World Cups with 21 goals (out of his 125 Argentina goals in total).
- Fifteen of those 21 have come since his 35th birthday. Eight have been at this tournament, passing the seven he scored in 2022 – which was just one short of Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race.
- This time Messi and Mbappe are level on eight goals. Mbappe’s France play England tomorrow in the third-place play-off. If players finish level on goals, the tie-breaker is assists – with Messi on four to Mbappe’s three.
- Messi could yet finish as the top assister at this summer’s World Cup too – sitting one goal behind France’s Michael Olise.
It is easy to forget Messi, then at Barcelona and aged 29, actually retired from international football in 2016.
He had lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany and three Copa America finals.
Since reversing that decision he has won the Copa America twice.
Now, here he is, still seemingly unstoppable – even though his game has changed.
Before the England tie, he had walked 47% of the distance he covered in this tournament, the highest percentage of any outfield player.
Tactically he has reinvented himself at least five times, says Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, who wrote a biography on Messi. – Agencies
