There used to be a segment on the original Fantasy Football show, about Pele. It implied he was rubbish. There would be a clip of him skying a free-kick high over the bar, missing an open goal, getting his jump for a header entirely wrong.
The joke, obviously, was that Pele wasn’t rubbish at all but that every player, no matter how great, can make a mistake, have a bad game, miss a sitter, take a lousy free-kick. All frequent, forgettable calamities, even for the very best. All things that Lionel Messi has to avoid on Sunday. He can’t miss that chance.
He can’t have an off day. If he does, given his importance to Argentina, he will probably lose. And if he loses then his last chance to shape his legacy, to rest in the pantheon beside Pele and Diego Maradona, to have comedians crack wise at his expense because he is so plainly, so indisputably, one of a triumvirate of the greatest footballers ever, will be gone.
Lionel Messi has one last chance to join Pele and Diego Maradona in the pantheon of greatness
So, no pressure, then.
Sunday sees Messi’s last World Cup match. There is no debating that now. Lionel Scaloni, his coach, attempted to buy him another four years by saying he could still be playing in 2026, but Messi was having none of that.
He will be 39 then. He will have noted what the desire to stay relevant did to the reputation of his great contemporary and rival Cristiano Ronaldo; maybe what it did to Maradona, too, failing a drugs test in 1994 because he needed a chemical cocktail just to get him up and around the pitch.
Either way, Messi goes out on a high. This has been his best, his most influential, World Cup. He has been one of its greatest players, even at 35. He is central to its show reel. Even if Argentina are not a match for France this weekend, it will not reflect on Messi’s contribution to this World Cup.
If he has an off-day against France on Sunday, his Argentina side will probably suffer defeat
Yet a high is not the summit. His place in posterity, his legacy, how he is perceived across the ages, that is different. Pele and Maradona, the two players that vie for a place at the pinnacle, won World Cups. Pele was the star of several brilliant Brazilian teams; Maradona, according to popular myth, dragged Argentina there almost on his own.
That may be an exaggeration. Excluding Maradona, Argentina’s 1986 team, at a time when many South American players did not leave the continent, won six Copa Libertadores titles, 20 Argentinian titles, three La Liga titles, two UEFA Cups, one Champions Cup of CONCACAF and the Ecuadorian title.
Yet Maradona’s achievement is no mirage. He won a World Cup; to emulate him, therefore, Messi must, too.
If that doesn’t sound easy, it is because it isn’t. It is incredibly hard to shepherd a storied sporting career over the line undamaged. So few manage it.
Only a World Cup trophy will put him level with Diego Maradona in the eyes of some fans
Sir Alex Ferguson, Dan Carter, Michael Jordan, John Elway, Rocky Marciano. We like to think of success being the destiny of the greats but sport isn’t merciful like that. It was Zinedine Zidane’s destiny to depart winning the World Cup for France, remember.
He went out instead headbutting Marco Materazzi of Italy, a player not in his class. Zidane was shown a red card, Italy won the World Cup, Zidane’s moment of madness was blamed. Brian Clough, one of the greatest and most charismatic managers in the game, left it only when Nottingham Forest had been relegated, and drink had taken a very obvious toll on his powers and his health.
This is the problem. White hot talent, that spark of genius, is fleeting. It doesn’t last. In art, moments of the greatest creation burn out. The sharpest minds become dull, the most radical concepts old hat. In sport, greatness must fade, because age intervenes. Maradona was 25 when he drove Argentina to their second World Cup triumph. Messi is a decade on. He was 27 when his country last made the final, in Rio de Janeiro in 2014.
Maradona got his hands on the World Cup when he was 25, 10 years younger than Messi is now
That was supposed to be his destiny, too, and it would have made a lot more sense. Peak Messi, in South America, this was going to be his World Cup. He lost to Germany; missed a good chance with the scores tied; didn’t play very well. When he was given the player of the tournament award at the end of the match it was considered a triumph for the power and influence of his sponsors, adidas, and further evidence that FIFA were in thrall to their money.
This, then, is destiny delayed. When Argentina lost their first game against Saudi Arabia, it was said to be proof of Messi’s waning influence. Maybe he could, like Gareth Bale, be one of those players who finds a way into a game in those vital moments, even when past his prime. Instead of being the one who compels from start to finish, he could steal the show with cameos.
Thankfully, he has done so much more here. That is what is so splendid. Messi has been better than in 2014, better than in 2018 — when he was shut out of the last-16 match with France by N’Golo Kante.
Kylian Mbappe’s France stand in between Messi and the one trophy that has eluded him
Those who believe in the fairytale narrative of sport are truly convinced that Sunday, the greatest player of this era will prove his worthiness beside the greatest players of any era, by winning the World Cup. And all that stands in his way is a team who may prove to be among the greatest in history. No pressure, then. Brazil were the last to be crowned back-to-back world champions, in 1962. Since then, Argentina in 1990 and Brazil in 1998 have had the chance, and failed.
We think of certain nations as serial world champions, but it is hard. Brazil have won one World Cup since 1994, Germany one since 1990, Italy one since 1982, Argentina none since 1986. So France adding 2022 to 2018 and previously 1998 would represent a seriously focused period of dominance.
It has been suggested that, because of Messi, Argentina want it more, but the emotion on the streets is no measure of the intensity within the dressing room.
Les Bleus could become the first country to win back to back World Cups since the 1960s
France, if they were at all complacent, had plenty of opportunity to depart this tournament against England and Morocco, two teams performing well in their knockout games. Instead, they fought doggedly for a place at Lusail. Down the final straight, Messi could have no higher hurdle to overcome.
For the hosts, of course, it’s a delight. When Qatari-owned Paris Saint-Germain recruited Messi to play alongside Kylian Mbappe the aim was to deliver the club their first Champions League trophy. That hasn’t happened, but having the two main protagonists at a World Cup final has proved an unexpected bonus. This was why Qatar bought the tournament.
The hosts were the weakest team here, and the weakest hosts in World Cup history, but their money has secured a helpful association with its biggest stars. Messi and Mbappe are bringers of joy, the faces of the World Cup, the faces of PSG, and therefore the faces of modern Qatar, too.
They are the epitome of the soft power play that was always intended. If the Olympics comes here in several decades time, as is Qatar’s plan, Messi and Mbappe will be the faces of the regime, the way David Beckham is now.
Mbappe is just 23, and could surpass Pele’s record of three World Cup wins as a player
And maybe, then, we will be looking back on the careers of two players who are accepted in the echelons of the greats. Who knows what Mbappe might go on to achieve with France? At just 23, he certainly has time to emulate Pele’s record of three World Cup wins as a player, maybe even surpass it.
For Messi, though, this will be it. Now, or never. He will need no reminding of what is at stake.
‘When you retire, people don’t look at how good you were. They look at what you’ve won. We remember the winners.’ Kylian Mbappe said that, 12 years Messi’s junior. And callow youth that he is, he would know.
No pressure, then.