Lionel Messi may no longer be what he was, but he showed that he can do everything to drag Argentina to glory — the good, the tough and the ugly.
— If Lionel Messi is to finally lift the World Cup, he is doing it the hard way. Genius can take you only so far, especially if your team is as flawed as Messi’s Argentina, but the fairy-tale story can still have the perfect ending.
It might even happen with the ultimate payoff line of Cristiano Ronaldo being on the other side with Portugal (should they emerge from the side of the bracket that includes France, England and Morocco) when it does. But let’s put the brakes on the fantasy, for now.
After 80 minutes of the quarterfinal against the Netherlands at Lusail Stadium, everyone watching could have been forgiven for getting carried away with the Messi narrative — that Qatar 2022 would end with the 35-year-old getting his hands on the one major trophy he has yet to win.
Messi had produced his best performance of this World Cup — and it was magical — to put Lionel Scaloni’s team 2-0 ahead and seemingly cruising into a semifinal against Croatia on Tuesday. The Paris Saint-Germain forward had created Nahuel Molina’s first-half opening goal with a pass of sublime quality before doubling Argentina’s lead from the penalty spot on 73 minutes.
The closing stages should have been on cruise control, but Wout Weghorst scored twice — an 83rd-minute header and then by finishing off one of the best and cleverest free kicks you are likely to see, 11 minutes into stoppage time, to draw the Dutch level. And that wasn’t in the script. Messi’s story really shouldn’t have been turned into a nightmare by a giant centre-forward who was signed by Burnley to keep them in the Premier League last season. A task he failed to manage, scoring just twice in 20 games.
Craig Burley can’t believe the Netherlands pulled off such an audacious free kick in the quarter final of a World Cup.
But just as one of football’s most glittering careers looked set to be denied its dream ending by a journeyman striker for a poor Dutch team, the sporting gods switched back onto Messi and Argentina’s side as the Copa America champions held their nerve to win a penalty shootout, with Messi scoring the first in a 4-3 win.
