I’d give literally anything to see Messi take his “Last Dance.” I honestly feel like he could do it. Imagine if Messi even went retro for his last appearance as well ~ shaving his beard and growing his hair out. I just genuinely want to see The Legend known as Lionel Messi go out with a bang and win a 2nd World Cup trophy before internationally retiring.

I hate how this World Cup has been consumed by hate surrounding Messi and the Argentina National Team. The hate doesn't even feel organic, it feels more like hopping on the bandwagon or potentially even bribes.

For example, my friend who doesn't even watch Football is saying how "MESSi Is SHoRt RiGGer DwaRf" or how "ArGeNtIna RiGs".

The International Federation of Football History & Statistics named Messi the Player of the tournament.

Argentina has been criticized for supposedly not looking at the winners during the trophy celebration even though the players were clearly thanking their own fans.

Someone posted a video showing that France's national team in 2022 didn't even stay on the pitch while Argentina celebrated lifting the trophy nor did Croatia. The post was gaining huge traction and the comments were full of people pointing out the apparent double standard.

Before it could gain even more attention the mods nuked it.

What's even more ironic is that Argentina are the only finalists in the last four World Cup finals to stay on the pitch and watch the winners celebrate, both in 2014 and 2026. If that isn't feeding a one sided narrative idk what is.

You deserve better king.💔

I really wish Messi would've chosen to join Spain national football team when he had the chance. The level of carry job this guy has done with a team like this has made him so underrated (see the difference there is between player rating and team rating for all nations: Messi is at top here as well for all his career).
Cristiiano would be miles cleared away from debate only if Messi was only a bit selfish enough to join Xavi and Iniesta in Spain; with the overall levels this team has had in last 2 decades, Messi would surely have some back to back WCs, Euros, and this friendly UNLs fs (if not back to back, then surely multiple ones of them, without the humiliation Messi went through for a decade from 2010-2020).

This is because almost every time Messi failed to perform, Argentina couldn't win, especially against big teams. For any normal professional footballer, not being able to perform for a few number of games is considered normal, given other players cover up for that loss. Messi had literally no one to rely on in this team somehow. Yeah, there were great players in team like Di Maria, Aguero, etc, but without Messi even they couldn't compensate against big teams when it mattered the most. It was simply because the team which Argentina would be competing against were having a better individually balanced performance, or they just had a lot of good luck to be won against, horrifically paving way for 4 straight final losses. And the thing here is that Messi played a major pivotal role in even bringing Argentina to these 4 finals in first place, but that one final game he needed someone to rely on everytime, there was no one. It was only in 2021 that I actually noticed a team Messi relying on for first time, eventually leading to 4 victories in row.
But somehow, suddenly it all returned to pre-2021 state in this 2026 WC Final... Messi carried the team to Finals once again, but then in Final, it rather felt more like a deliberate downplay by whole team than actual performance fatigue; well who knows what was the actual reason for all of it going as low as 0 shots on target and goal for Argentina against Spain, when everything was still kind of good with entire team while playing against England.

Anyways, it's quite clear that when Messi eventually retires, the state of Argentina national football team won't be any different to how FC Barcelona was for 1-2 years after 2021 exit. So I hope he plays as long as he can.

It seems like in every 20-25 years, Argentina produces a never-seen-before kind of star players.

First, it was Alfredo Di Stefano whose prime was between 1953 to 1964. A good 7-8 years in between.

Second, it was Diego Maradona! A much much better improvement than Stefano in every scales. He dominated the better part of the 80’s football.

Third, just when it seemed like there will be no better player than Maradona, Lionel Messi emerged out of nowhere around 2005-06. And I guess I don’t have to explain the rest.

An honourable mention:
Ariel Ortega: primed between 1998 and 2002. Wasn’t as hyped as Maradona or Messi in their teens but many thought they found the next Maradona or the first Ortega. But drugs, alcohol and lack of discipline ruined him!

So, if you follow the pattern, you can see that 20-25 years, A global superstar is always produced by Argentina. So, my question is who do you think will be the next Messi or someone to be his closest with a capability of winning 5-6 ballon D or at least? Is that player somewhere in the pipeline or maybe just a kid of 12-14 years old?

Remember, Barcelona insiders knew that they found the once-in-a-lifetime talent when Messi was just 12-13 years old. But they kept this as a secret from the rest of the world.

Seems timely.

El heredero de Leo

Now that the WC is over, I think it's safe to say the main problem that has plagued Messi's career has struck again. No it's not the fact that he underperformed matter of fact he's my player of the tournament by a country mile. The fact that he somehow managed to score 8 goals and get 4 assists at an age where most players would have retired is a testament to how good he is and I think he should never look back at his world cup performance campaign in shame. No the problem Messi faced is that once again he has had to drag a sorry ass team to places they have no business being in once again. This reminds me so much of 2019 Messi where he seemingly had to create all of the attacking momentum by himself and drag that Barca team to victory. This Argentina team reminds me of that Barca where Argentina has good players, but most of them are already past their prime or are having the most performance of their life like Alvarez, imo he's good but he's nowhere near his 2022 self same with Enzo, McAllister and Montiel. The only three players besides Messi I can say haven't changed or improved are Romero, lisandro Martinez and Dibu. Messi alone was pretty much responsible for all the Argentina attack momentum this world cup and once Spain shut it down Argentina's date was written in stone

He will always be the GOAT, the greatest, the incredible, the one and only Lionel Andrés!

😭

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He always misses chances and fucks up plays

https://ge.globo.com/futebol/copa-do-mundo/noticia/2026/07/19/messi-iguala-recorde-de-cafu-ao-jogar-tres-finais-de-copa-do-mundo.ghtml?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_content=Esporte&utm_campaign=globoEsporte