MESSI. Lionel Messi won the World Cup by beating France in the final of the 2022 edition. Does this new prestigious trophy definitively place the Argentinian at the top of world football against Cristiano Ronaldo but also Diego Maradona or Pele?
Lionel Messi is finally on top of the world! Quarter-finalist in 2006 and 2010, finalist in 2014, 8th finalist in 2018, the Argentinian won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, beating France in the final (3-3, 4 shots on goal to 2) with a doubled and a converted shot on goal. Does this long-awaited success place him at the top of football? Even the Brazilian press, rather stingy with compliments to the Argentinian rival, recognizes that this victory makes him “the best footballer of the last 50 years”.
It should be noted that this period makes it possible to avoid comparisons with Pelé, eternal king of the Brazilians! If we trust the prize list, that of Lionel Messi is indeed eloquent with a victory in the Copa America and a victory in the World Cup but also a coronation at the 2008 Olympic Games with Argentina, not to mention 10 Spanish championships. with Barça, four Champions League, three Club World Cups or seven King’s Cups, the Spanish Cup. The “small” Ligue 1 won with PSG in 2022 seems anecdotal.
The eternal comparison with Cristiano Ronaldo seems to end with this world trophy that the 37-year-old Portuguese will never win, who can however boast of having one more Champions League (5) and having won a championship in three different countries (England with Manchester United, Spain with Real Madrid and Italy with Juventus Turin). Undoubtedly insufficient to place itself at the same level in the pantheon of world football. When Kylian Mbappé, his list still seems a little empty despite the same number of World Cups and already five national titles with Monaco and PSG. He still has time for that since the Frenchman is 11 and a half years younger than the legend Messi…
Compared to other legends, Lionel Messi equals Diego Maradona, winner in 1986 and beaten four years later in the final by Germany, which makes a final won a lost as for “the Pulga”. On the other hand, Messi remains far from Pelé and his three World Cups, from Ronaldo the Brazilian (1994 and 2002) or even from his Argentine compatriot Daniel Passarella, the only survivor of the Argentine victory of 1978 still present in 1986.