Messi reflects on World Cup 2026

Argentina’s Lionel Messi had a fantastic World Cup and carried the team on his back.

He demonstrated leadership qualities and helped dig the team out of desperate positions time and time again. 

Think back to Cape Verde, Switzerland, Egypt, England, matches,Argentina fought back courageously like lions.

Messi was a sensation during this World Cup and after his performance there can be little argument about who is the world’s best player. Messi showed who that is on the biggest stage.

He just missed out on the Golden Boot, scoring eight goals throughout the tournament only bested by Frenchman Kylian Mbappe who scored a brace against England to take his goal count to ten.

What Messi did at the age of 39 is remarkable and many of Europe’s top clubs may well look to lock in his services because he can still terrorise the best defences in world football. He can still impose himself on games.

Argentina has faced backlash for its aggressive manner in games and its deployment of dark arts. It all spilt over at the end of the World Cup final, which Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain on Sunday. Spain deserved to win and were the better team.

Throughout the tournament, Messi conducted himself with dignity. He was never truculent; he was never a dirty player.

Some say this is the last we will see Messi at international level. I don’t think so. He will continue to be Argentina’s talisman for a couple of years. He will be 43 at the next World Cup, and it will be unlikely that by then he will be a star performer as he has been this summer. It has been said that the tears he cried at the end of the World Cup were tears of goodbye. If it is, he has left a legacy that will endure. 

The debate will now be who was better, Maradona or Messi? In my opinion, Messi was more impactful. 

 About the bitter loss to Spain, who are also European champions, Messi wrote on Instagram: “The pain is immense, and it will take time for this wound to heal. But I also choose to hold on to all the good things … the matches we played, giving everything we had, will stay in our memories forever. With the support of an entire country, together with the hard work and effort of this group, we once again managed to be among the best teams in the world. Today it’s difficult to fully appreciate what we achieved, but this team reached two consecutive World Cup finals. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for every greeting and every message. Once again, we came together as a country, united by immense pride in being Argentine. I also want to congratulate Spain on winning the championship.”