Lionel Messi and Argentina will play in the grand finale of the World Cup in their last three participations.
In 2014, Lionel Messi won the World Cup’s Golden Ball after they faced off in the finals in Brazil against Germany.
When Argentina faces either France or Morocco in the World Cup final on Sunday in Qatar, Lionel Messi has declared he will play his farewell game.
Messi scored his eleventh World Cup goal and his fifth goal in Qatar on Tuesday night against the Croatians. He has exceeded the ten goals that had been scored by Gabriel Batistuta, for whom a congratulatory tweet was made by the former striker to motivate Messi.
Lionel Messi, 35, is playing in his fifth World Cup, surpassing Diego Maradona and Javier Mascherano’s four.
He led Argentina to a 3-0 semifinal triumph against Croatia on Tuesday and will earn his 172nd cap this weekend as he attempts to bring the country its first World Cup trophy since 1986.
After the match at the Lusail Iconic Stadium, in which he scored and assisted Julian Alvarez of Manchester City, Lionel Messi spoke to Argentine media outlet Diario Deportivo Ole.
“I am very happy to finish my journey in World Cups in a final, to play the last game in a final,” Messi told Diario Deportivo Ole. “That is really very gratifying; it will be many years before the next one, and I don’t think I’ll be able to do it. And to finish like this, it’s the best.”
The Argentine captain, who was a member of the team that lost to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil, also said that Argentina had grown stronger as a result of the shocking loss to Saudi Arabia in the tournament’s opening match. He also praised his teammates’ actions.
Messi reflected on their opening game: “I would say the first match [the defeat against Saudi Arabia] was a hard blow because we had been unbeaten in 36 matches. To start in such a way in a World Cup, we did not think we would lose to Saudi Arabia. We lost the first match due to fine details, but it helped us to be stronger.”
