The dream of Messi matching the late great Diego Maradona lives on. On Saturday, the forward, who has won the Ballon d’Or seven times, equaled Maradona with eight World Cup goals and a record 21 appearances for his nation at the tournament.
Just as their hopes of victory were beginning to wane and their fear was beginning to set in, Messi’s brilliant low strike from outside the box gave them a 2-0 victory over Mexico and placed them second in Group C.
Although Argentina’s hero is only two goals away from equaling their World Cup leading scorer, Gabriel Batistuta, with ten goals, his goal in Qatar should give him more chances to surpass “Batigol.”
The real goal is to win the World Cup as Maradona did in 1986, but for the time being, Messi can be content with equaling Maradona’s World Cup appearance record and goal total, two years and one day after “El Pelusa” passed away.
The playmaker with curly hair not only participated in 1982, 1990, and 1994 editions but also helped Argentina win the tournament in Mexico in 1986.
In Argentina, Maradona’s glittering World Cup legacy frequently aids him in comparisons, his flawed genius winning out against Messi’s near-perfection. Some people insist that Messi cannot be considered the greatest of all time unless he wins the trophy.
When Argentina won their second World Cup trophy in Mexico 36 years ago, Maradona scored five goals and provided opportunities for five more.
Messi was born almost a year later, but Argentina failed to win the trophy during his lifetime.
The captain of the Albiceleste led the team to second place in 2014, despite Argentina’s loss to Germany in the Rio de Janeiro final by a score of 1-0 after extra time.
In his fifth World Cup, the No. 10 for Paris Saint-Germain converted a penalty kick in Argentina’s opener, but they were stunned by Saudi Arabia and lost.
He occasionally burst into life against Mexico, but his team was largely suffocated by their energetic opponents.
As Argentina’s desperateness grew early in the second half, Messi sent a free kick over the crossbar from a dangerous position.
In the end, he scored the goal in the 64th minute, finishing superbly beyond the reach of Mexican cult hero Guillermo Ochoa. Enzo Fernandez then scored a brilliant second goal in the final minute.
Maradona only scored 15 goals for Argentina in 41 games, compared to Messi’s 49 in 115, but some of them helped Argentina win the World Cup.
– Competing histories:
Four years after losing in the second group stage in Spain in 1982, Maradona came back with a vengeance.
In the quarterfinals, he produced the most talked-about performance in football history against England.
After opening the scoring with the infamous “hand of god” punch over England goalkeeper Peter Shilton, the stout attacker scored with a magnificent solo dribble one of the greatest goals ever scored.
Maradona scored two more goals against Belgium in the semifinals, and he also contributed an assist in the 3-2 victory over West Germany in the championship game, possibly the nation’s greatest sporting moment.
Maradona led Argentina to the 1990 World Cup final, where they lost 1-0 to West Germany.
Maradona failed a drug test and was sent home after two games, and the wild eye-bulging celebration he had after scoring in the 1994 World Cup has remained a memorable image.
This week, Messi became the first Argentine to score at four World Cups. As a teenager, he scored on his debut against Serbia and Montenegro in 2006.
He didn’t play as a substitute when Germany beat Argentina in the quarterfinals, and in 2010 they beat them again, this time 4-0, at the same stage.
In 2014, Germany stopped Messi at the Final hurdle, and in 2018, France beat them in the round of 16 with two goals from the playmaker in a 4-3 loss.
With two goals in two games this year and strikes in each of Argentina’s last six matches, Messi may be ready to score in a World Cup knockout match.