Why the beautiful game needs its modern genius to seize the ultimate World Cup prize

This is more than a final against Kylian Mbappe, more than a last Tango with Paris. This is an occasion for a fanfare and a farewell, for celebrating Messi as he, at 35, in all likelihood says adios to the World Cup.

The desire for Messi to defeat the world champions to become a world champion burns so strongly in many hearts. About 35,000 Argentinians are in Doha, singing about Diego Maradona cheering on Messi “from the sky”.

Much of the narrative is about Mbappe versus Messi, but it is also inescapably, movingly, about Maradona and Messi. Just as Maradona did in 1986, Messi can provide escape, even if only momentary, for Argentinians from the impact of inflation and economic travails back home. Messi is a source of hope and pride, and also an inspiration for his willingness to give everything for the team.

He also makes the ball dance like nobody else in the modern era. Such gifts, such ability to entertain, are why Messi transcends national loyalties. So many around the globe want him to lift the World Cup, just as he transcends club affiliations. He plays the game the right way - attacking, staying on his feet, using his core strength to resist tacklers, using his mental strength to handle the weight of expectation.

Messi is a fabulous role model, and there are rarely, if ever, any excruciating excursions across the front pages. He’s the best player in the world, seven-times winner of the Ballon d’Or, and also the most dedicated to his craft.

Mauricio Pochettino always speaks glowingly about working with Messi at Paris Saint-Germain. His compatriot would arrive early for training, and Pochettino particularly admired the way that even such a superstar would wait for a physio or masseur to become free in the treatment room, just as he would wait in line in the canteen. Messi did not seek any preferential treatment. “He is an amazing player behaving like a normal player,” Pochettino said.

And he seems totally happy in this Argentina team, this band of brothers so capably managed by Lionel Scaloni. Whenever comparisons are drawn with the fabulously gifted, and magnificent physical specimen that is Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi scores far higher on team spirit.

Ronaldo’s decline - taking in an ill-judged interview, becoming a pariah and then former player at Manchester United, and then dropped by Portugal - contrasts with Messi’s renewed rise to widespread, deafening acclaim.

And so ends the argument over who is the better player. Messi wins, regardless of what happens tomorrow (Sunday). What remains now is simply establishing whether Messi steps up alongside the greatest two players in the game’s history, Maradona and Pele.

It is impossible to claim that Messi would be better than those two, partly because the tackling was brutal back then. Both were kicked to pieces in World Cups. Pele was hacked down by Bulgarians and Portuguese in 1966; he still won in 1958, 1962 and 1970. Against Cameroon at Italia 90, Maradona, a winner four years earlier, took a tackle that was so high it dislodged his armband, one of 11 fouls inflicted on him. Messi has rarely had to play in fear of his limbs being detached. The Butchers of Bilbao have hung up their aprons.

A precious memory from the start of attending World Cups is still, and always will be, being in the Stadio Delle Alpi in 1990 watching Maradona darting away from Alemao, Dunga, and Ricardo Rocha to reach Brazil’s area. His left knee grounded, Maradona applied his less-celebrated right foot to slide the pass through Mauro Galvao’s legs to Claudio Caniggia, who rounded Claudio Taffarel to send Argentina to the quarter-finals.

Messi has shown some of Maradona’s tenacity, physicality and edge in this World Cup. He’s remonstrated, he’s risen to the occasion, he’s rallied this exciting new generation including Julian Alvarez and Enzo Fernandez. To record his contributions here is to appreciate Messi’s greatness and determination to make this last dance count.

Messi scored in the defeat by Saudi Arabia, then provided a goal, an assist, leadership and a rescue act against Mexico. He guided Argentina to victory over Poland, struck against Australia, contributed a goal and an assist against the Dutch, then nailed the first penalty in the shootout. He dominated the semi-final against Croatia with a penalty and the assist of the tournament, burning Josko Gvardiol and teeing up Alvarez.

Messi’s numbers are crazy. He has played more World Cup finals games than Maradona, has provided assists in five separate World Cups, and will pass Lothar Matthaus’s record of 25 finals games tomorrow (Sunday). He has scored 11 finals goals, eclipsing Gabriel Batistuta’s Argentina record. There will be no procession. France, for all their sickness issues, are formidable. They have much to commend them, not simply the marauding musketeer Mbappe, who has not even been the side’s most influential player. Antoine Griezmann has.

He has been key. He’s filled in for the injured Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante. Griezmann should be the player of the tournament, but it will be between Mbappe and Messi for the Golden Ball, and possibly the Golden Boot.

On the eve of the tournament, I ventured the hope that: “Messi lifting the trophy would be a truly joyous moment. He has given so much joy to the world that a fifth and final attempt at the World Cup could provide an ending of pure poetry. Predictions? Argentina to win, England to go out in the quarters, Kane to break Wayne Rooney’s England goalscoring record, Bellingham to be the rising star, Serbia the dark horses, and for protests to highlight Fifa’s folly and Qatar’s shame”.

Well, Kane didn’t break Rooney’s record, Serbia’s dark horses fell lame, and the protests were largely minimal, but the desire for Messi and Argentina to win remains strong. Bring it home to Rosario, Leo.

-The Times

Originally published as Why the beautiful game needs its modern genius to seize the ultimate World Cup prize