The world on his shoulders: the titanic challenge Lionel Messi will face in Qatar

That of Qatar will be the last world cup by Lionel Messi. The approach is not capricious. The Argentine star is 35 years old and it is practically impossible that in four years he will be in the same competitive conditions as today. Even the Asian date will arrive somewhat diminished. A hamstring injury kept him out of PSG’s last game before the start of the global competition, so he will literally arrive with less football in the first one, albeit with more rest. In the same way, it is expected that, due to its quality, it will not have problems in meeting demand.

The Flea plays a lot of goals. First the collective: the team of its namesake Scaloni arrives emboldened by the title won at the last Copa América. If you are already considered a natural candidate, this additional element reinforces the conviction. The individual objective goes hand in hand: the world title is probably the only element he lacks to prevail in the dispute with Diego Maradona to become the best trans-Andean football player of all time. And also for having appropriated another, who is also quarreling with his compatriot and a few other cracks, like Pelé: the best footballer in history.

“There’s a bit of anxiety and nervousness at the same time…it’s the last one,” the star told Star+ in October. “I don’t know if we are great candidates, but I think Argentina is still a candidate because of history, what it means and even more now because of how we arrived,” he said. he added about the unavoidable candidacy. “We arrived at the right time because of the way everything happened, with an armed and very strong group. But in a World Cup, anything can happen, all matches are very difficult. The favorites are not always the ones who end up winning,” he warned.

Messi will have the world on his shoulders. Nor is it anything different from what he experiences every weekend, when millions of televisions are turned on across the planet just with the desire to watch him play. It remains to be seen whether the maturity he has acquired over the years will allow him to handle the pressure and carry his country’s team to the top. “Messi is under a lot of pressure. He’s a great player, but a World Cup is still a World Cup. And it’s not just him. The whole team has to support him. Also, because he has already said that there is his last chance at a World Cup, because of his age. Let’s hope that this will materialize in a victory and a third star for Argentina. The possibilities are given, “said Alberto Tarantini, who lifted the highest trophy at the planetary level in 1978, in the tournament which was played in Argentina.

The Rabbit prefers to believe. He says he sees Messi at an optimal time and the maturity will help him manage the moments. However, he insists that responsibility is not just individual. “They are 11 in the team. They have to accompany him,” he said. In this sense, he tries to reduce the intensity of the responsibility that falls on the former Barcelona striker. “I think the remaining 10 must be with him. That’s why I say accompany him,” he insists.

In this logic, he dismisses the other variable: the shadow of Maradona. “Maradona is Maradona. They are two extraordinary but different players. Likewise, I don’t think Diego is a shadow for Messi. Both have indisputable attributes. Maradona had only one other character. But Leo can win. Without a doubt. And he deserves it,” he said.

In an effort to help him, Tarantini is encouraged to advise Messi. “To win a World Cup you have to go on the pitch and forget the pressure, but, I repeat, a World Cup has many downsides which may or may not help you. We, for example, could not specify in Spain 82 have better players than in 78. Or more players, like Maradona. And yet it was not possible,” he recalls.

The number of Messi trophies is endless. Consideration applies to groups as well as individuals. It is then easier to say that the World Cup is one of the few that is missing. During the Copa América in Brazil, in 2021, he settled one of the debts that troubled him: he was consecrated with the Argentina team in an adult tournament. Likewise, this consideration was relative, because he had obtained Olympic gold in 2008. Three years earlier, he had lifted a planetary trophy, but at the youth level: the World Cup which was being played in the Netherlands.

However, even if there’s no more room in your closet for accolades, the concrete thing is that winning the World Cup is the key that would open the doors to the football Olympus . And, probably, the feat that will allow him to rid himself of the stigmata of the recurring comparison with the Ten.