Lionel Messi once again stole the headlines in the media as Argentina advanced to the World Cup final with a 3–0 win. Messi scored Argentina’s opening goal in the semi-final against Croatia and set up and finished two more Julian Alvarez.
The Argentinian media praised the captain, who rose to share the tournament’s top scorer spot with France Kylian Mbappé with. Both have scored five goals.
– From the beginning, we have asked people to trust. We know who we are and what this group is capable of. We weren’t the biggest favorites, but we won on our own merit and overcame the difficulties. This is a fighting team, Messi said, according to newspaper La Nacion.
Messi became the best scorer in the World Cup with 11 goals in the semi-final through Argentina. He previously shared the record Gabriel Batistuta with.
In these games, Messi has been the creator or passer in at least two different hits in four different matches. From the 1966 World Cup onwards, apart from Messi, only the Brazilian legend Ronaldo has been involved as a scorer or passer in 13 different World Cup matches.
Messi became the sixth player in World Cup history to score in the quarter-finals, quarter-finals and semi-finals of the same World Cup tournament. None of them have crowned their streak with a championship.
Argentina returns to the World Cup finals after a one-game break. In 2014, it lost to Germany in the final match with a score of 0–1. This time, however, the tournament got off to a dark start when Argentina lost their opening match to Saudi Arabia.
The shock result ended an otherwise tough scoring streak and also stuck in Messi’s mind.
– It was a hard knock because we had played 36 matches without defeat. We couldn’t have thought that we would lose to Saudi Arabia. It was a test for the whole team, but we proved our strength. We improved match by match and succeeded in a difficult trick because every match was like a final. We have played five finals and won five. I hope the same continues in the next one. We lost the first match, but it made us grow, Messi reflected.
“Messi no longer suffers, but enjoys”
The progress of Tuesday’s semi-final pleased the Argentinian media in their analyses. The newspaper Clarin perked the head coach by Lionel Scaloni tactical solutions when writing about “Scalon’s laboratory”. The two-goal power play changed the nature of the game, and in the second period Scaloni’s decision to react to Croatia’s forward changes with a five-back line drew plaudits.
In the end, however, Clarin also returned to the edge of the captain’s superiority.
– When Messi is in Messi mode, he does things like the third goal. It was Julian Alvarez’s second, but Fifa should give it to “Kirpu”. If Diego Maradona the goal against England was the best goal in World Cup history, and Messi’s pass to Julian was the best pass in World Cup history, Clarin praised in his match review.
The soccer magazine Olé praised Messi as probably playing the best World Cup of his career in his last World Cup tournament. The newspaper wrote about how Messi took the Croatian defender If Guardioli his leash and made Julian Alvarez, who scored two goals, the scorer.
– As a football fan, you feel privileged when you get to see such performances. There was a great pass in the Dutch game, now such a start to the goal. All of a sudden, only one goal comes to mind where the pass and the 15 seconds before the pass have been so wonderful, and that was Maradona’s performance against Brazil in 1990. Absolutely magical, Urheilu expert Juho Rantala said after the match.
Diego Maradona initially with his dazzling solo Claudio Caniggia the winning goal when Argentina and Brazil met in the quarter-finals of the Italian Games.
At the moment, Messi is playing statistically the most effective year of his career in the shirt of Argentina. During the current calendar year, Messi has scored 16 goals for Argentina, four more than the second best in 2012.
The World Cup is the Holy Grail missing from Messi’s career, but now it seems closer than ever.
– There are no more doubts. A goal in the quarter-final, semi-final and semi-final. Messi no longer suffers, but enjoys and plays as he did when he was 23, but at 35 he is the best version of himself – and in the World Cup. Thanks Leo, Olé praised his freshness after the match.