Lionel Messi’s record 18 World Cup goals cement longevity, redefine greatness

KANSAS CITY – Two days from turning 39, already older than Diego Maradona was when he retired from football, Lionel Messi still cannot stop breaking records.

On June 22, the Argentina captain added another mark to a career that includes magic, greatness and drama, scoring twice in a 2-0 win over Austria to become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer, with 18.

The icing on top of an already well-iced cake, the double saw him move past Germany’s Miroslav Klose (16) as well as Brazilian Marta’s 17 in the Women’s World Cup.

“I’ve always said that Messi is not bad,” Klose joked to news outlet Suddeutsche Zeitung, describing him as the best player of all time.

Marta, meanwhile, posted applause emojis on Instagram, saying: “For me, Lionel Messi is the best of all time. Congratulations, champ!”

Austria coach Ralf Rangnick knew what Messi was going to do and had a plan to stop it. Speaking ahead of the clash in Texas, the German spoke at length about the latest iteration of Messi.

“Lionel Messi maybe doesn’t put in the same legwork as in the past,” he said.

“He likes to stay on the side, and sometimes he likes to stop in front of the goal, in the offside position.

“That makes him so dangerous, because he might be free in a position, and we need to be prepared for that. We shouldn’t allow transition moments, and not allow him to be free.”

True enough, Messi scored his first from just inside the 18-yard box. He completed his brace five minutes into added time, cleaning up his own rebound following a surging counter-attack and firing low through traffic. 

When asked about Messi again after the match, how his side failed to stop him, Rangnick simply said: “We knew that he is on a level of his own, and Lionel Messi showed us today that he’s the best.”

Opponents have run out of ideas, and even Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said that he is too “tired” to constantly talk about his star man.

Other former football greats turned pundits have a lot to say, however, after Messi’s latest feat.

“I’ve run out of words for Lionel Messi,” said Thierry Henry. “Every time the world thinks he’s standing on the highest peak football has to offer, he finds a new summit that no one else has ever dared to climb.

“While most players his age have already hung up their boots, moved to the dugout, or taken a seat in the studio, Messi is still breaking records where it matters most – under the lights, on the biggest stage.”

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, said that Messi’s latest achievements have ended the long-running debate of who is football’s greatest-ever player.

“I don’t think there’s any debate left now,” he said.

“When you become the all-time top scorer in World Cup history, win the thing, dominate it across different generations, and keep producing at 38 years of age, what more do people want?”

When Messi arrived in the US for this World Cup, he was behind Ronaldo’s 15 goals.

The former Brazil striker said: “For the gods of soccer, it’s a fitting statistic that he surpasses everyone. If there’s anyone who deserves this title, I think Messi is the perfect man to be there.”

Renowned Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, who wrote an authoritative biography of Messi, said before the World Cup that this version of the player was “very different” to the one that burst onto the scene with Barcelona in the early 2000s.

“Messi has reinvented himself at least five times to evolve into the player he is now for Argentina and Inter Miami,” he wrote in a column for the BBC.

“He has adapted so he can dominate and stay ahead of a game that has always been chasing him.”

He noted how Pablo Aimar, Messi’s childhood idol, once said: “The last Messi is always the best Messi.”

That version is a player that walks more than he runs, said Balague, but “still sees everything first”.

“Critics once used this (lack of running) against him. Now it reads as mastery,” he wrote.

“He is reading the game, conserving energy for the moments that matter.” REUTERS, AFP