Messi’s legacy etched in gold

Football holds a special place in Argentina; a victorious Messi embodies that sentimento

The images from Sunday evening in Buenos Aires — Argentina celebrated its first World Cup triumph in 36 years — were a cornucopia of songs, chants, blue-and-white flags, and an ocean of ecstatic people who seemed to take over the famous obelisk in the city’s Plaza de la Republica. Football holds a deeper meaning for South America than it ever can for the powerhouses of Europe. For the latter, it’s an extension of their economic and military might, their history of being colonisers and pioneers, of inspiring the Renaissance and sparking the Revolution; just more evidence of centuries of success. For the former, it is the only thing that worked for them in a new world order when nothing else seemed to. It gave them purpose and identity, and, as Argentine fans were screaming on Sunday morning, became more than a sport or a vocation but a sentimento, or national sentiment.

For the last two decades, the high priest of football in Europe (not for the first time) has been a South American. (Agustin Marcarian/Reuters)

For the last two decades, the high priest of football in Europe (not for the first time) has been a South American. Lionel Messi burst into the Barcelona youth system as a young boy, evolved in its tiki-taka culture, and eventually made it an extension of his own brand. Messi won everything a European footballer could dream of. But at his core, something was missing. He was, after all, not a European footballer. He was an Argentine who would never be able to fill that void until he won a World Cup — which the other high priest from three decades ago, Diego Maradona, had done in 1986.

So Messi went on a quest — once, twice, three times, four times, and then for a fifth and final attempt at the first Arabian World Cup in Qatar. By now he was no longer the high priest of European football, having been replaced by the next superstar, a Frenchman who was determined to stamp his own authority with a second successive World Cup title. The Messi vs Kylian Mbappe battle on Sunday night was one of the greatest in history — like two gladiators squaring off on a 100m pitch instead of a colosseum. Each time Messi pulled away, Mbappe clawed back. In the end, the battle to cement Messi’s legacy was down to how much his team mates (old warhorse Angel Di Maria, the three other penalty-takers, goalkeeper Emi Martinez) wanted to win it — for him, for Argentina, for South America, and for that special sentimento called football.