In the access tunnel to the Maracanã lawn, on July 11, 2021, Lionel Messi gathered the other players to make the speech before the Copa América decision. Years ago, this would have been difficult for him and he would have stumbled over his words. Not that time.
“The path is more important than the result,” he said.
Perhaps because he no longer focused solely on the final score, that afternoon he won his first major title with the national team.
The next objective would be the most important. According to goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, before starting the continental competition, Messi had warned the entire squad that the 2022 World Cup in Qatar would be his last.
“Because of that, he told us he would give everything,” Martínez explained.
Argentina is in the final of the World Cup largely because of the football of its captain and number 10 shirt. This Sunday (18), the team decides the title against France, at the Lusail stadium, at 12h (Brasília time).
Messi’s message resonated so strongly with players and coaching staff that it continued to be repeated. Before the trip to the Middle East and after the surprising defeat in the debut against Saudi Arabia, in the knockout stages.
“What’s important is the path, the objective we’ve set so far. I’m convinced that when you enjoy yourself, things come out different”, opined coach Lionel Scaloni.
Messi’s road to getting close to the title in 2022 is unlike any he’s had in the past at the World Cup. Even in 2014, when he was runner-up and voted the best in the competition, he didn’t score a single goal from the round of 16. The striker had never scored in knockout matches.
In Qatar, he scored in the round of 16 (Australia), quarterfinals (Netherlands) and semifinals (Croatia). He made plays and gave assists that are already in the history of the World Cups, like against the Dutch and Croatians.
“I see Leo happy. I saw a great Leo at the Copa America [de 2021], one of the best I’ve seen in my life. But, at this Worlds, he took it a step further. It’s hard to beat the Copa America Messi. That generates a lot of energy for the team,” added Martínez.
It is a trajectory that transformed the star that is the reference of Argentine football. His Cup so far is Maradonian on and off the field. It’s just not the same because there was no game against England and so far there has been no title, as happened with Maradona in 1986.
Messi had never taken so many actions capable of uniting the squad. From choosing the song that would be the soundtrack of the selection (the “Muchachos” of the band La Mosca de Tsé-Tsé) to taking satisfaction with opposing coaches and players (Louis van Gaal and Wout Weghorst).
With five goals (along with Mbappé), he reaches the final as the top scorer of the World Cup. In 2018, in Russia, he only scored once. In South Africa, in 2010, not even that. It went blank. He reached 11 goals, making him the best Argentine scorer in the history of the competition.
The path moved even Scaloni, who came to the verge of tears in his interview this Saturday (17), when talking about the group he formed since he took office in 2018, and the athletes who received opportunities, but are not in Qatar.
An emotion that contradicts what he himself said after the group stage victory against Mexico. When asked about the crying of his assistant Pablo Aimar after Messi’s goal, he said that football could not be lived that way, with so much passion. It was just a game.
The Argentine invasion of Doha, with around 40,000 people and packed stadiums, made him concede that yes, there is emotion involved that makes this journey even better.
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“Being emotional is part of Argentine culture, of how the game is lived. We have the best fans in the world and they needed this joy. The images [de Buenos Aires] arrive and how can they not move you? In Argentina, even if you don’t understand, it’s more than football, it’s something that makes people happy. And that this campaign has made people happy makes us emotional. These are things that move us and we are human beings, “she analyzed.
It’s yet another speech stolen from Lionel Messi, the unquestionable leader of the national team and football of the World Cup finalist country. In every contact with the press, he always hears the request to “send a message” to the people in his home country, as if it were necessary to give a word of hope.
“With his football he shows where we can go. Leo is a phenomenon,” conceded Alexis MacAllister. A discreet statement close to the one Martínez gave after last year’s Copa América title, when he said he “would die for Messi.”
That’s when Messi said that the journey is the most important thing. But if this ends with the title this Sunday, for him and for the teammates who idolize him, it will crown the most beautiful path of all.
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