Lionel Messi... Hollywood's Masterpiece
The first match? He scored a hat-trick! It was as if we were watching a theatrical performance. The Argentine star Lionel Messi struck three blows, signaling the start of the highly anticipated show at the opening of the North American Football World Cup. The 39-year-old artist delighted his fans, shattered records, and led his national team with his heart all the way to the final.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner delivered a high-quality performance, a blend of bewildering dribbles and lightning-fast goals, closer to the peak of his brilliance at Spanish club Barcelona than to his ghostly presence at French club Paris Saint-Germain.
He showed this immediately, as his goals struck like lightning on the heads of the Algerian players (3-0), with two quick goals and another using his signature “space fox” style, as if he wanted to quickly refute those who had prematurely announced his retirement.
The captain smiled like a child during the celebration, surrounded by the unconditional love of his teammates and his ecstatic fans. As the song goes, “For the Malvinas, for Diego, for Leo’s last one, oh Argentina, I want you to be world champions twice in a row.”
With these words, the unofficial anthem of the Albiceleste at the 2026 World Cup, “The Fourth Star,” summarizes the team’s mindset: on the pitch, ten soldiers and one Messi.
The number 10 continued to walk on water in the second match, despite missing a penalty. He scored a brace against Austria (2-0) and broke the all-time World Cup goalscoring record held by German legend Miroslav Klose.
Nevertheless, the humble champion refused, despite journalists’ persistence, to take all the credit for this brilliance. “I was very angry about the penalty,” he said.
Then his goals flowed like tomato sauce: a direct free-kick against Jordan (3-1), the opening goal against Cape Verde (3-2 after extra time), and the equalizer against Egypt (3-2), raising his tally to eight goals in six matches.
The epic round of 16 saw him miss another penalty, saved by Egyptian goalkeeper Mostafa Shobair, before he turned the tables with a perfect cross to Cristian Romero (79’, 2-1) and a volley (83’, 2-2), before the salvation goal signed by Enzo Fernández (90+2’, 3-2).
The Argentine champion nearly left the tournament; he broke down in tears at the final whistle before being carried off by his teammates.
The former French international striker, who played alongside “The Flea” at Barcelona, added: “This man writes history with his feet. It’s unreal.”
True, Messi no longer runs as he used to, but he “hunts” while walking. He waits for any moment of confusion, scans the pitch for a small gap, and pounces on it like a starving animal, striking like lightning.
His tactical intelligence leads him to drift from the center toward the right flank, especially in the final stages of matches, while his teammates compensate for this creative freedom.
“To do whatever he wants on the pitch,” his coach Lionel Scaloni emphasized when asked about the possibility of removing penalty-taking duties from him after he missed two.
Physically, the player approaching forty seemed to have regained his youth during his sixth World Cup appearance.
He knows his body well, avoids unnecessary running, and still has a huge amount of energy left at the end of every match.
Thus, former English midfielder Joe Cole was premature when he claimed that the Three Lions “would knock him down” in the semi-final.
Messi arrived at the tense final, creating two goals for Enzo Fernández (85’) and Lautaro Martínez (90+2’, 2-1), turning the tables on the exhausted and toothless Three Lions.
The final chapter will be written tomorrow at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, on the outskirts of New York, where the New York Giants of the National Football League play.
