- Phil McNulty
- By BBC reporter from Lusail Stadium, Doha
image source,Getty Images
After 5 World Cups, Messi finally wins the Hercules Cup
After the lights went down at the Lusail Stadium, Lionel Messi stepped into a spotlight alone as he finally took on the only untouched goal of his glamorous career. trophy.
The 35-year-old Argentine football champion rubbed his hands to prepare for the moment of being crowned king. He put on the traditional Arabic costume called “bisht”, then took the Hercules Cup and held it high to the sky. Flashing lights and fireworks all over the sky lit up around him.
Messi has achieved his dream. The last regret among his many accolades was also filled – and it was all accomplished in a final that will be remembered for years as one of the most tumultuous in World Cup history, culminating in the Argentine icon’s rise to the top.
image source,Getty Images
This is the third time in Argentina’s history that they have won the World Cup.
He can now count among his seven Ballons d’Or awards, four UEFA Champions League titles, a Copa America title, 10 La Liga titles for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. -Germain’s Ligue 1 title, plus a World Cup title.
And that’s the most important one. The 15-inch trophy is the number one argument made by millions of fans when they say Messi is the greatest player in football history – and those who disagree will have a harder time making their case.
The comparison can span generations, and each point of view has a different frame, but no one can now deny that Messi is as famous as Pele (Billy), as well as that Sunday’s Lussel Stadium stand. The characters appearing on the banner have the same name.
image source,Getty Images
A World Cup title is the only major achievement Messi has been missing.
That was Diego Maradona, with whom comparisons to Messi were never inevitable. He is a predecessor who wears the same Argentine No. 10 jersey as Messi, and he has a good reason to be the best player-he won the World Cup in Mexico 36 years ago, which Messi did not have before. Now, that gap doesn’t exist.
How would you go about telling the story of Messi’s summit in Qatar? How do you recall the process of Argentina winning this World Cup and the final match that made Messi’s name forever associated with the championship?
He has been competing in the World Cup since 2006 and has experienced successive failures, especially the pain of losing to Germany in the 2014 final at the Maracana Stadium in Brazil. Messi should know that this honor is not easy.
The fact that on this magnificent night in Lussels, it was all the better for Argentina and Messi to finally claim the country’s third World Cup title after so many failures.
image source,Getty Images
Messi scored two goals in the final.
And this time it was won in front of a brilliant 23-year-old star, Frenchman Kylian Mbappe (McBappe). Even if Mbappe is not now, he will definitely be compared with Messi in the future, arguing who is better.
France played almost as if they were going to roll out the red carpet for Messi’s coronation in this final, and they did not pose any threat at all in the first 80 minutes. The Lusail Stadium once became Messi’s paradise. He opened the scoring for Argentina with a 12-yard penalty kick, which also made him the first player in the history of the World Cup to score from the group stage to the knockout stage to the first stage of the final. players.
Messi then created a chance for team-mate Angel di Maria to score the second. There seemed to be no suspense in the game, and the Argentine fans had already begun to celebrate, until Mbappe brought the much-anticipated match of the century back to the original point in a way that almost horrified.
image source,Getty Images
This World Cup final is seen as a battle between Messi and Mbappe.
Mbappe first scored a penalty 10 minutes before the end of the game, and then scored an equalizer with a wonderful volley just a few tens of seconds later. The big screens in every corner of the stadium showed a close-up of Messi at this time, and the smile on his face seemed to be unbelievable.
Argentine coach Lionel Scaloni (Scaloni) selected the 34-year-old Di Maria to start the game was a brilliant move, which made France right back Jules Kounde ) was exhausted, but then Scaloni would replace him with sapper Marcos Acuna (Aguna) on 64 minutes, but it became a conservative transfer that put himself in danger.
Of course, it was Messi again, who scored his second goal in overtime and put Argentina ahead again, but the French team, who had been mediocre in the first half of the game, tied again with Mbappe’s 12 yards.
In an atmosphere that bordered on hysteria, Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez (Emiliano Martinez) blocked Randal Kolo Muani (High Road) in the final countdown Muyani), and then the Argentines also had a header from Lautaro Martinez that went wide.
image source,Getty Images
The lack of a World Cup champion has always been considered the reason why Messi cannot be counted as the king.
Calling overtime “high energy” would be an understatement, and some fans couldn’t even watch it happen on the court in the unbearable tension.
Under the tense tension, the final match was decided by a 12-yard penalty kick, and Argentina won 4-2. It was brutal to decide the game in this way – and whenever people talk about the World Cup in the future, it will be about this game.
When Gonzalo Montiel (Mondia) finally scored the decisive penalty, Messi knelt on the ground in the middle circle, weeping and raising his hands to the sky, and then a bunch of blue-clad Teammates in the white striped jersey rushed over and overwhelmed him.
Then, in the midst of wild celebrations, he called for a microphone to address the Argentine fans.
Messi won the Ballon d’Or for best player of the tournament, becoming the first man to win it twice since the award began in 1982 – he did so in 2014.
Now, he has participated in a total of 21 goals for the Argentine team in five terms – including 13 goals and 8 assists himself, the most of any player from any country. Goals in this World Cup brought his tally to 793 throughout his career. He was also the first player to score at all stages of the same tournament.
But one fact must override all these statistics: Messi is now finally World Cup winner.
image source,Getty Images
He straddled the “8” shaped stage where he and his teammates had just lifted the trophy, immersed in the joy of finally filling the vacancy of the trophy cabinet. Moments later, the stage was packed with friends and family of the Argentine team. Their country has once again stood at the top of the football world since 1986.
Argentina’s fans lingered in their seats, singing through their World Cup playlist, paying tribute to the man they could always count on. This man finally did it.
The “earthquake-level” upset in the first loss to Saudi Arabia now seems to be a distant past. It was Messi’s brilliant goal against Mexico that put Argentina’s World Cup campaign back on track, and he was irresistible until the end of the tournament.
Messi holds the trophy in his hands – a task that has been on his shoulders since he came off the bench and scored a goal in Germany’s 6-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro in Germany 16 years ago, now complete.
The final chapter of Messi’s World Cup story is a thrilling journey of ups and downs from beginning to end, and the twists and turns of the plot finally gave him a perfect ending. A night in Qatar that will never be forgotten.