Is Lionel Messi the greatest footballer ever...
32 teams gathered in Qatar to play for the ultimate prize in football. Over the next few weeks, they played each other. Some won matches, and some lost them but won hearts as it happens in all the World Cups.
This time however there was just a question that everyone wanted to answer. Will Lionel Messi, in what would probably be his last foray, get across the final frontier to complete an otherwise incomplete story? Almost everyone who cared wanted it to happen. Will he be the one they call the GOAT.
After surviving a scare in the group stages, Argentina was pulled along by Messi into the finals and the world waited with bated breath,
The final had everything you wanted. Evenly matched teams, legends with scars to show, and wannabes with a future beckoning them. For most of the match, the Argentines were on top. They were solid in possession while France was wasteful. Messi was at his usual best, a flick here a nudge there, while the others played along.
In the opening half, Angel Di Maria was sparkling, the veteran was busy on the left flank. Twisting, turning, and creating an overload for the disorganized French back line. As Di Maria twisted and turned and went around Dembele, he was tripped and Messi converted from the spot to get the Argentines onto the score sheet.
In the 36th minute, Messi flicked a ball onward to spark off a break. Mac Allister, the floater, burst away and was in the box in a flash. A clear layoff for Di Maria left Lloris with no chance. De Paul was industrious, Romero manned the defense with authority, and Mac Allister a revelation in this World Cup continued to be everywhere. With a 2 goal lead, they almost had their hands on the cup.
The second half was not much different, it took a long time before the French could even get a shot at goal. Deschamps pushed in reinforcements and it worked. Mbappe now had more space as Coman, Thuram, and Camavinga ensured more possession. Ottamendi's foul in the box gave away a penalty and Mbappe obliged. The fightback was on. In the very next minute, Thuram fed Mbappe a flat aerial ball on the left edge of the box. With a lot of space around, he wrapped his leg around the ball and sent it into the corner, and France was on par.
They went into extra time and scored once each with Mbappe scoring his third, the only man after Geoff Hurst to score a hattrick in the final. The cruelty that a shootout is, was played out after 120 minutes. An imposing Martinez in goal aided by probably overawed French youngsters, sparked off a celebration as Argentina took the Cup home for the third time.
It had to finish this way, It was almost preordained to be this way and no other way. Poetic justice it was.
The story of Messi was complete. The Legend was rounded off now. The piece of art was complete.
The first stroke of color splayed onto the canvas that is a piece of art today was on August 17, 2005, when a long-haired 17-year-old Lionel Messi, came on for Argentina as a substitute. Ever since millions of colors have been added. Over the last 18 years, footballing gods have been painting their magnum opus. There of course have been grey shades and dark overhangs to keep the brilliant colors company. It was a joy to watch the piece of art take shape.
On this day, somewhere out there in the heavens, the gods, finally drew their gilt-edged biros and signed their most mesmerizing work to date.
After a few centuries, a South American story was added to the 1001 stories of the Arabian Nights.
The 1002th was to be added from a noisy delirious setting in Qatar. A story for the ages...
It has been a masterpiece which had brought smiles to the faces of millions over these years and deserved the heady finish that it got.
Much has been written by many over the last two decades that this genial genius has graced the game. However, this time as he achieved the ultimate glory, journalists in the box at Lusail, and commentators on air elsewhere were all frozen and numbed. Words failed them, fingers froze, and sentences gasped for breath. It was a night when one realized the inadequacy of a language to express the depth of human emotions.
Language was martyred, and adjectives and punctuations lost relevance and felt shamefully inadequate.
Only two of them survived, one an adjective and the other a punctuation, to summarize a story etched forever into the history of this beautiful sport.
Greatest Period.
Sudhir Bhattathiripad
Be A Sport
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