Lionel Messi (35, Paris Saint-Germain), one of the greatest players in world football history, now has only one game left to win the World Cup, which he failed to achieve.
Messi’s Argentina reached the final by winning 3-0 in the 2022 Qatar World Cup semifinal against Croatia held at Lusail Stadium in Qatar on the 14th (Korean time).
In this match, Messi scored the winning goal with a penalty kick and assisted Julian Alvarez (Manchester City)’s key goal in the 24th minute of the second half, taking the lead in advancing to the final.
This marks his second World Cup final since the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
Messi has received the Ballon d’Or, the symbol of the world’s best soccer player, seven times, lifted countless trophies in his team, and tasted countless moments of glory as a player.
The runner-up in the Brazilian tournament eight years ago was Argentina’s best performance in the World Cup while Messi was there. Other than this, even with Messi, they could not even reach the final.
Along with his native ‘Legend’ Diego Maradona and Brazil’s hero Pele, he is evaluated as a ‘previous player’ in terms of skills and is called ‘God of Football’, but the fact that he has never won the World Cup is always pointed out as a weakness in comparison with them.
This Qatar tournament was considered virtually the last opportunity for Messi, who was in his mid-30s, to directly lead his country to win the World Cup.
In the first game of this tournament, with the words “It will be the last chance to achieve a great dream,” the start was slow, but Messi and Argentina did not stop.
After the match against Saudi Arabia, they took first place in the group stage with two consecutive wins, defeated Australia in the round of 16, and the Netherlands in the quarterfinals, cruising through to the semifinals.
In the semi-final match on the day of the ‘Last Dance’ confrontation with Croatia’s midfield commander Luka Modric (Real Madrid), Messi led the way to the final by proving his class with various records.
Messi, who started as a starter that day, played his 25th World Cup match and tied Lothar Matheus (Germany) for the most times in this category.
In the 34th minute of the first half, Alvarez kicked a penalty kick, and with the 5th goal of the tournament, Kylian Mbafe (France, Paris Saint-Germain) tied for the top scorer, and with the 11th goal in the World Cup, it became a tie for 6th place.
In particular, his 11 goals in the World Cup finals is the highest record ever for an Argentine player.
Until the last game, Messi had been equal with Gabriel Batistuta, who played for Argentina from 1991 to 2002, with 10 goals, but surpassed him on this day.
Messi, who made his debut as an adult national team member in 2005, has scored 16 goals in A matches this year alone, 토토사이트 including the final goal that day, and is also having the highest scoring year ever, far exceeding his 12 goals in 2012.
Messi, who assisted Alvarez’s goal in the 24th minute of the second half, which put a wedge in a 3-0 victory, added another record by jumping to a tie for first place in this category as well with the third help of the tournament.
He accumulated 19 attack points with 11 goals and 8 assists in his World Cup career, which is the highest tie record since 1966, when related statistics were compiled, according to Opta, a soccer statistics specialist.
With former record holders Miroslav Klose (Germany), Ronaldo (Brazil) and Gerd Müller (Germany), Messi once again stood shoulder to shoulder with the ‘legends’.
In addition, Messi left his name as the first player to record both goals and assists in four World Cup finals since 1966.
He scored goals and assists in the group stage match against Serbia in Germany in 2006, the group stage match against Mexico this year, the quarterfinal match against the Netherlands, and the semifinal match that day.
Now, if we go to the finals on the 19th, we will surpass Matheus to rank first in the most appearances in the World Cup, and a new record will follow every time we add an attack point. Of course, the only thing he wants is a ‘trophy’.
Messi, who was selected as the ‘Player of the Match’, the best player of the semi-final match, said, “It was a very big blow because I didn’t think we would lose to Saudi Arabia. We were put to the test, but we proved how strong we are.” retraced the journey of
“I don’t know if this is my best World Cup, but I enjoyed it. I was confident that I would do it, and I asked people to believe in us,” he said. I hope to win again,” he said.