Last night Messi dazzled again and left the entire planet with their mouths open once again. The Argentine led his team to the World Cup final in Qatar, after beating Croatia 3-0. However, this will be his last participation in a World Cup competition as confirmed yesterday to the newspaper Olé. "There are many years for the next one and I don't think he will give me. And ending this way, it's the best," he declared.
The Argentine star opened the scoring with a penalty goal and closed it with a marvelous move in which he assisted Julián Álvarez to score the third. Thus, the Argentine team will play its sixth final on Sunday against the winner of the semifinal between France and Morocco, which will be played today at 8:00 p.m. Spanish time.
La pulga debuted in a World Cup competition at just 18 years of age at the hands of José Pékerman. It was in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, when Rosario's man became the youngest Argentine to play and score in a World Cup. In that edition, Argentina fell in the quarterfinal round of penalties against the host.
Since then, the man from Rosario has played 25 World Cup matches and has scored 11 goals, this being his best edition in Qatar with five goals in the final. In addition, the flea has become the top scorer for the albiceleste in the World Cups after beating Gabriel Batistuta (9). He also surpassed the record for the most matches played in World Cups held until now by Diego Armando Maradona (22).
Although he received the MVP award for best player of the game last night, he wanted to highlight the role of his teammate Julián Álvarez. "Today Julián is a standout above all, he opened the way for us, he fought, he ran, he fought with everyone. He generated, he was very important as in this World Cup and he deserves it," said the Argentine star.
With this award, Messi adds another record to his private account, since, along with Wesley Sneijder, he is the only player to have been named MVP four times in a single tournament. The one from Rosario achieved it in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and repeats numbers again in Qatar 2022.
One game away from finishing his career in this World Cup in Qatar, during the competition Messi has started in all the games (6) and has played a total of 648 minutes. He has scored five goals, three of them from penalties, and has provided three assists. In addition, he has had an 87% passing effectiveness.
On Sunday the flea will play its first World Cup final with the albiceleste, and will have the opportunity to give their team their third World Cup and thus fulfill the dream of lifting what would be their first. At the age of 35, the man from Rosario says goodbye through the front door of the World Cup competitions, but it seems that there is still Messi for a while.
