Lionel Messi now sits at the table of world champions along with Pelé and Diego Maradona
The '10' led Argentina to the hard-fought conquest of their third world title this Sunday in Doha, where they defeated defending champion France in penalties (4-2, after a 3-3 draw).
At 35 years old, the Argentine star can bid farewell calmly to his World Cup journeys (he has participated in the last five): he scored the first goal from a penalty kick (23rd minute), and the third goal in overtime (109th minute) at the packed Lusail stadium, and he also participated in the second goal scored by Ángel Di María (36th minute).
Although the crown breaks a 36-year drought for Argentina without lifting the World Cup, it was previously achieved with Mario Kempes in 1978 and Diego Maradona in 1986. However, this conquest has a special protagonist, a guy who saw how Germany snatched it from his nose in Brazil in 2014.
With Di María and Messi as the only survivors of the debacle at the Maracanã, the team formed by Lionel Scaloni knew how to close ranks around the player that thousands consider the best player in history, a title resisted by many precisely because he did not have in his hands what he lifted this Sunday in front of 88,966 spectators.
And he did it against France, one of his potential successors and teammate at PSG, Kylian Mbappé, who took the match to penalties by scoring a hat-trick (80th, 81st, and 118th minute, two of them from penalties) and finishing as the top scorer of the tournament with eight goals.