Champions » Šampioni | 19 drinks and breathes football. Messi knew that Qatar was his last chance. He is 35 years old, has countless matches under his belt and deep wounds from injuries to his legs, and there’s even been talk of late that he’s no longer as fast as he once was. And Messi without speed is not Messi... He suffered a heavy blow at the very start of the World Cup, with Argentina losing 2:1 against Saudi Arabia. Shock and disbelief! If he could have caught the first flight to Barcelona at the time, he surely would have. But he didn’t; he stayed and took the blows of 50 million Argentines. He didn’t bend the knee, and that ranks him among a rare few. Neymar couldn’t take the pressure with Brazil, nor couldCristianoRonaldowithPortugal, Harry Kane with England... He began demolishing opponents one by one, Mexico, Poland, Australia, theNetherlands, Croatia and, finally, France, in a final that wasn’t for the faint-hearted. “I don’t have the rightwords. It’s simplyunbelievable. IknewthatGod was going to give me the cup, I was sure – it was a big joy for us. I had thisbigdreamfor a long time, Iwanted to close my career with a World Cup. I can’t ask formore than this… Thank you somuch tomy family, to all who support me and also to all who believed in us. We prove once again that Argentinians, when we fight togetherandunited,weareable to achieve what we aim. The merit of this group, which is above individuals, is its strength of all fighting for the same dream that was also the one of all Argentinians... We did it,” said Messi. A majority of football fans are now of the opinion that Messi has confirmedhis status as thebest of all time. And is he better thanMaradona? If you lookat trophieswon,Messi is ahead 40:11. Maradona wasn’t a Spanish champion with Barcelona, but he was an Italian champion twicewithNapoli. He alsonever celebrated victory in the Champions Cup, though he won a UEFA Cup title. Unlike Messi, he managed to win a league title inArgentina, with Boca Juniors in1981. Both of them became junior and senior planetary champions, andwhile itmight seem unbelievable, the great Diego never managedto triumph inSouthAmerica’s Copa América. Argentinians say thatMaradona was “bigger than football” and that gold and crystal cups can’t measure up to what he did for the country. Those were difficult years for this SouthAmerican country, andDiego was theironlyvent; themanthrough whomall angerwas filtered, but also the joy of the nation. And all that ultimately consumed El Pibe de Oro, thegoldenkid. Incontrast,Messihad already left Argentina and moved to Barcelona by the age of 14. That meant that he had to work harder, toprovehimself a real Argentine like Maradona had been. And, he succeeded! The crown of Qatar is his, and his alone. Leo, enjoy it, you deserve it! The Argentine national team became world champions for the third time, and Lionel Messi won his first World Cup title Kilijan Mbape imao je odličan turnir u Kataru, koji je okončao kao najbolji strelac Kylian Mbappé had an excellent tournament in Qatar, ending it with the Golden Boot for top scorer Još jednom smo pokazali da smo mi, Argentinci, kada se borimo zajedno i ujedinjeni, sposobni da postignemo ono što smo zacrtali We prove once again that Argentinians, when we fight together and united, we are able to achieve what we aim FOTO: PROFIMEDIA / NAOKI MORITA / AFLO
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