The footballing world is set to be stripped of one of the game’s greatest-ever players on the international stage after Argentine icon Lionel Messi has called time on his career in service of his country after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Messi says this will likely be his final World Cup 🥺 pic.twitter.com/wAhH30qzDO
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 6, 2022
Messi has finally settled into his new life in the French capital and looks closer to the version of himself at Barcelona that helped him rise to guaranteed status as a legend of the game, but the stain on his record in football was always the lack of a World Cup win.
By comparison, the man who millions have compared him to for the entirety of his career – the late, great, Diego Maradona – achieved a global triumph in 1986 while helping Argentina to their second World Cup win.
Though Messi has undoubtedly had the more glistening club career when stacked against Maradona, for years he has come under fire for his inability to get Argentina over the line on the international stage both at the World Cup as well as Copa America.
Thankfully for him, Argentina won the South American tournament in 2021 for the first time since 1993 after finishing runner-up on a number of occasions with Messi leading the way. This winter will be his final chance to set the record straight on an even bigger stage, with heartbreak in 2014 coming once again as Argentina fell to Germany in Brazil.
But this Argentina is different, perhaps this winter will follow that trend after La Albiceleste has embarked on a 34-match unbeaten run under Lionel Scaloni with a squad that has the talent to spare in all areas of the pitch for the first time in years, and a tactical schematic that no longer focuses play solely through Messi.
