In his last men's World Cup, Lionel Messi no longer really has anything left to accomplish. From an individual standpoint, he holds the record for most Ballon d'Or awards with eight. No one else, not even Cristiano Ronaldo has more than five. With 414 assists and counting, and 565 goals and counting, he has the most and second-most, respectively, of all time. He is the only player to ever win the Golden Ball, awarded to the tournament's best player, in two separate World Cups. Not even Pelé, the pioneering Brazilian figure Messi is most often compared to, managed to achieve that.
At the team level, Messi's trophy record stands apart. He has four separate Champions League wins, ten La Liga titles, two Ligue 1 titles, and an MLS Cup victory near the twilight of his playing career. For Argentina, he has two Copa America victories and the 2022 World Cup triumph, which cements his place atop history more than anything else.
For all intents and purposes, Messi is the greatest scorer, playmaker, and winner ever. Everything he touches turns to gold. It always has. He could do the unthinkable and walk away mid-World Cup this summer, and his legacy as an all-time athlete would still remain secure.
The 38-year-old living legend does not appear to be done. World No. 1 ranked Argentina, led by its sparkling talisman has a real chance to repeat as men's World Cup champions. A men's World Cup repeat has only been achieved two times before, the last of which happened for Pelé's Brazil over sixty years ago.
I would have seen enough. Messi would no longer only be the greatest pure athlete of his generation. I would consider him the greatest athlete of all time. Full stop.
A repeat would place Messi above the following athletes at their peaks:
- Serena Williams at her powerful peak
- Simone Biles at her most graceful
- LeBron James at his explosive best
- Tom Brady at his most cerebral
- Shohei Ohtani at his most inevitable
- Michael Phelps at his fastest
- Usain Bolt at his fastest
Messi would stand alone. Better than all of them. Everyone, everything, everywhere, all at once. A men's World Cup repeat, which is supposed to feel impossible in the modern era, would be the ultimate cherry on top of Messi's encyclopedic resume that no one else can touch. It is the quintessential unicorn achievement available in sports today.
The Messi-Ronaldo debate has never been about soccer alone.
I used to think I would personally never see a repeat men's World Cup champion.
Too much has to break in a team's favor. A country has to overcome so much while staying together, without losing momentum between two distinct iterations of its squad. And in a field featuring 48 nations these days? Repeating in this tournament now is like summitting Mount Everest without the trusted expertise and guidance of an experienced sherpa. It should be so far-fetched that you cannot even seriously ponder the possibility.
Messi is making that possibility feel reconsiderable in real time. His recent performances have included a remarkable hat trick against Algeria, underscoring that he remains a central force for Argentina even at 38.
If he takes Argentina to soccer's tallest summit on two straight tries, I will know that I will likely have never seen a better, more polished, more exceptional athlete in my lifetime.
A legend of legends. An icon of icons. A GOAT of GOATs. Truly, one of one.
