Lionel Messi knew justice this 2022. After a decade and a half in which the disappointments were more than the joys with the Argentine senior team, the great contemporary symbol of soccer finally had his revenge.
In 2005, during his debut with the Albiceleste, in a friendly against Hungary, got expelled after staying just 45 seconds on court.
In 2011 was whistled by not singing the anthem during the Copa América matches that took place in Argentina.
In 2014, he led his team to the World Cup final in Brazil. However, a goal from the German Götze, with 420 seconds left to finish the extra time of the last game, he ended his illusion.
Then came the Copa América finals lost to Chile in 2015 and 2016, and with them the “this is not for me” that marked a temporary withdrawal that showed that the gods are also frustrated.
In 2021 a glimpse of joy came to him, after winning the Copa América against Brazil, in Brazil, and on the remains of the Maracana tragedy. But happiness was not complete until last Sunday, when in the World Cup in Qatar, being the most Argentine of all and in the most Argentine final of all, Messi lifted the World Cup. That’s why he is the best international athlete of the year for EL TIEMPO.
(You can read: Lionel Messi breaks down in tears for heartbreaking Argentine story: emotional video).
the path of the hero
Messi had in Qatar, as the North American mythologist Joseph Campbell expressed in the Camino del héroe, “reward time”.
Although the World Cup started in the most unexpected way, with a defeat against Saudi Arabia in which he scored from a penalty, but could barely influence, the ’10’ never lowered his head. In fact, that initial blow was the incident that forged the voice of command that the last bullet demanded of him.
Messi, who has never blurted out to prevail in his 35 years, was talking and playing. Measured in efforts, because the body does not understand how the soul can be as young as it is old, he joined the 19 rookies on his team and fought when he played and shone when he could. Responsible for collecting the five penalties that Argentina was sanctioned in seven games, Messi only missed one; proof that the greatest challenge is the opportunity to beat the least favorable statistics.
Of all the transfer of Argentine resistance in Qatar, the peak moment, the one of no return for its own existence, came for the match against the Netherlands. Van Gaal, the rival DT, warmed up the preview. And Messi, used to always talking on the pitch, did it again: goal and assist. But after his score, the celebration was that of the Argentine revenge of Topo Gigio, the gesture inspired by the animated mouse on Italian television that Juan Román Riquelme imposed on Boca Juniors and later dedicated to the Dutch coach after his rudeness at Barcelona , asking him to speak harder, that he was not listening.
then a “What are you looking at, fool?” Wout Weghorst, a Dutchman with whom he had had a run-in, closed the proud day of the hero who came to Arab soil to show that the crusade was not his alone.
(Keep reading: They reveal the VAR dialogue that could leave Argentina without the World Cup in Qatar).
With the confidence that he left in the semifinal against Croatia, Messi led the Argentine orchestra in the match against France. In the midst of the team’s best first half, he scored the goal that opened the final. What came next was pure football and authentically Argentine suffering. Goal by Di Maria. Mbappé scores two goals and takes them to extra time. Messi scores in extra time, but Mbappé equalizes with two minutes to go. Penalty shootout. A Messi who with the same gallantry to speak goes and collects the first of his own, and a ‘Dibu’ Martínez who is gigantic.
Then, the image that the whole planet dreamed of: Messi kissing the World Cup.
At that moment in which Messi touched the trophy, all the criticism that the French press had made him throughout the year for his performance at PSG faded. The memory also escaped that this had been the first season in which he did not appear nominated for the Ballon d’Or in the last 17 years. The few seconds in paradise exceeded the months on earth, and Messi became eternal.
To complete the adventure, the ’10’ survived the impact of the world. In Buenos Aires, between human avalanches, he was rescued by a helicopter. In Rosario, his hometown, he barely entered his house. The ecstasy responded to the return of the hero with the elixir, to the last stage of his path, but not the end, since Campbell said that “the hero is the champion of the things that are, not of those that have been, because the hero is”. And Messi is.
ANDRES FELIPE BALAGUERA SARMIENTO
SPORTS JOURNALIST EL TIEMPO
In networks: @balagueraaa
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