Lionel Messi begins his sixth and final FIFA World Cup campaign just eight days before his 39th birthday. It's an astonishing display of longevity amplified by the fact that, three years after leaving top-level European football behind, he is maintaining a level of performance notable enough to keep his place as Argentina's captain.
The No. 10 lifting the trophy in Qatar four years ago provided perfect closure to a narrative full of twists and turns, from being Diego Maradona's appointed successor to struggling to equal his stellar Barcelona form, his lowest point in 2018 and earning immortality four years later. But now, with the main goal already reached, what's left for Messi to achieve in Canada, Mexico and the United States?
There had been much speculation on whether he would retire from the national team once he lifted his most coveted trophy, and yet he marches on, with unflinching commitment to every international break the calendar and his body allows. With that in mind, this final World Cup will be read as a coda to his illustrious international career, right where he currently resides and plays his football. One final opportunity to add glory to the glory already there, and to break the few records that are still within his reach.
Germany 2006: First steps
Messi's World Cup debut in Germany came under a backdrop of great excitement, but there was no consciousness of the scale of what he would achieve. The Rosario native had his season of consolidation at Barcelona, which was cut short by an injury that curtailed a hugely successful end for Barça, who won LaLiga and the UEFA Champions League.
His compromised physical shape, as well as inexperience at just 18, meant his role in José Néstor Pékerman's team was secondary. His first showings in the South American qualifiers in 2005 were positive, but he still had to fight for his place with much more established teammates like Juan Román Riquelme, Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola and Carlos Tevez.
In spite of that, his introduction to the world stage was still special. He had to wait until the second game of group C, when Argentina were already cruising to a 3-0 win over Serbia and Montenegro, but the delay was worth it. Destiny had such a hand in his entry that, as soon as Maxi Rodríguez made way for him after 75 minutes, the TV broadcast immediately showed Maradona celebrating the substitution as if it were a goal. He didn't have to wait too long to celebrate actual goals either, as Messi only needed four minutes to assist Hernán Crespo and another 10 to begin his own World Cup tally, when he appeared on the right to finish a magnificent team move and culminate a 6-0 thrashing.
Despite his dream start, Messi's most memorable moment in Germany did not happen on the pitch, but off it. He started in a goalless draw against Netherlands and came off the bench in the dramatic round-of-16 win over Mexico after extra time, but Pékerman decided against using him in the quarterfinals, where Argentina were knocked out on penalties by the host nation. The image of the then-No. 19 sitting on the bench, with crossed arms, stretched legs and visibly upset, was etched into memory. He wouldn't be seen on the bench again at this competition, but the feeling would certainly come back.
South Africa 2010: Superstardom for his club, frustration for his country
Fast-forward four years, and the world of football was completely changed. Messi arrived in South Africa with a Ballon d'Or and a six trophies in a season with Barcelona under his belt, with all doubts cleared as to whether he was one of the best footballers in the world and the club titles to show for it. Everything seemed to point toward the World Cup being the confirmation of his dominance, this time with his national team.
The Argentine had already centralised his position on the pitch under Pep Guardiola, and the expectation was even greater as he was being guided by none other than Maradona, who had already named him as his successor. His mentorship was so evident that it was also the first World Cup where he wore both the No. 10 and the captain's armband, which he sported for the first time in the 2-0 win against Greece that culminated a perfect group stage.
However, despite a roaring start, at the quarterfinal stage Argentina crossed paths with a superior Germany team, and the result was a painful 4-0 drubbing. This time he did not witness it from the bench: he went through the entire ordeal while on the pitch. And thus ended the only tournament where Messi was unable to score, something at odds with his goalscoring freedom in Catalonia.
Brazil 2014: At the gates of glory
If by 2010 Messi was a worthy candidate to be named the best player in the world, four years later the discussion had been expanded to whether he was among the best in history. Four more Ballon d'Ors came in quick succession, as well as numerous titles with the Blaugrana shirt and an endless highlight reel of astonishing goals and dribbles. All of this as the drought with Argentina, as well as the internal and external pressure that came with it, grew bigger.
The World Cup in Brazil came at what was then perceived as an ideal time to crown that process. The Albiceleste had finally found peace under the stewardship of Alejandro Sabella, who set up an electrifying front four of Messi, Gonzalo Higuaín Sergio Agüero and Ángel Di María that crashed through the qualifiers and went into the tournament next door as one of the leading candidates to win it for the third time.
At the start of that campaign, Messi took the starring role that was so demanded of him with both hands, and scored four goals in the group stage against Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran and Nigeria, including an injury time winner in the second match and a spectacular free kick in the third. As the games progressed though, the No. 10 changed his role to comply with the needs of the team, and although the goals stopped flowing, Argentina kept overcoming stage after stage on their way to a first final in 24 years. Once again, Germany was standing on their way.
The occasion seemed ideal. Messi was, after all, at the peak of his career, playing at the legendary Maracaná against the team that had denied him so many times in the past. But it happened again. The captain had his share of scoring opportunities, including a long range shot that kissed the post, but in the end Mario Götze broke his and all of Argentina's hearts in extra time. The reigning feeling was that the best shot at winning the trophy had passed.
Russia 2018: The nadir
The wait until the next World Cup felt endless. The successive Copa América final losses to Chile, two of the most painful episodes of the country's history in general and the player himself in particular, came and went. So did his brief international retirement and a gruelling qualification process, where Messi himself had to step up with a hat trick away to Ecuador to guarantee his place in Russia in the final matchday.
In the context of such a chaotic cycle and the public opinion at its most anti-Messi, the Rosario native had to take on that World Cup as an endless swim against the current, both in relation to the external pressure and the evident internal struggles the national team faced. The result was his worst showing in the competition: he missed a penalty in an awkward 1-1 draw to debutants Iceland on the opening matchday and was a shadow in the 3-0 takedown at the hands of Croatia. He was able to show flashes of his quality with a brilliant goal against Nigeria to avoid total debacle in the group stage, but couldn't correct course for Argentina when eventual champions France came around in the round of 16, which resulted in a 4-3 loss.
Before the tournament started, with Messi already past 30, there was talk about this perhaps being the final chance for him to get his hands on the trophy he wished the most, the one he would exchange all his Ballon d'Ors for. The ending to that experience, however, was so bitter that it was impossible to think that this is how his dream would end. This story needed one more twist, and that is what would end up happening.
Qatar 2022: redemption and eternal glory
Everything that was traumatic about the run-up to 2018 made room for absolute hope in 2022. Under the guidance of Lionel Scaloni, the national team was renovated and reshaped, which led to ending a 28-year-long drought by winning the 2021 Copa América in Brazil. Messi, now 35, was at the forefront of that resurgence, and this time Qatar presented itself as an ideal stage to crown this process.
It came as a major shock, then, when Argentina edged close to the brink right as the tournament started. The 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia was a huge blow, which instantly sent the team into sudden-death mode, and the performance in the second game against Mexico was no less worrying. But then came Messi. The captain took matters into his own hands with a screamer from the edge of the box, the opener in a 2-0 win that blazed the trail to reach immortality in Lusail in epic fashion against France, contributing seven goals and five assists along the way.
If the note he left the competition, after scoring a brace in the final, was his last with the Albiceleste shirt, the narrative would already be perfect. Yet Messi decided against it, arguing that he needed to bask in the eternal love he earned after so many years of struggle until his body and football allowed him.
This is the thought process that drives his presence in the next World Cup, a tournament where he has nothing left to prove, some records he can still break (he's three goals away from equalling Germany's Miroslav Klose, the top scorer in World Cup history) and one final chapter to put a smile on the faces of fans worldwide.