FOUR years ago it felt as if Lionel Messi’s story was told.
He had finally won the World Cup, aged 35, in what he said was his last game in the tournament and – depending on your point of view – cemented his place as football’s greatest ever player.
Four years before that, aged 31, many – including those around him – felt he had played his final World Cup game and would end his career without winning it.
And here he is at 39, having helped take England to the cleaners and send Argentina to their second World Cup final in a row.
Messi’s two assists helped the South American side come from behind to win 2-1, taking him up to four assists at the 2026 World Cup – to go with his eight goals.
The joint top scorer and the second highest assister in the whole show.
Argentina will play Spain, the country where Messi has played most of his football with Barcelona, in Sunday’s final in New Jersey.
“He’s the best player in history, I don’t know what else he would have to do to prove that. The majority of Spaniards love him,” said his national team boss Lionel Scaloni.
BBC pundit Micah Richards said: “They have Lionel Messi. They have the ‘GOAT’. The greatest of all time.
“[It’s about] moments. We thought it could have been Jude Bellingham or Harry Kane, but this is why he is the king.”
Former Barcelona and Paris St-Germain forward Messi had never played England in his career before – and Thomas Tuchel and every Three Lions fan will wish that was still the case.
The veteran showed a few quality touches in an attritional first half – playing more centrally – but it was after Anthony Gordon gave England a 55th-minute lead that Argentina came to life.
As Tuchel sent on more defenders and England sat back, Argentina had 88% possession for the following 37 minutes.
And Messi had a field day after moving out to the right wing.
“Getting Messi on the wing was the key for us,” said goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez afterwards.
He completed nine dribbles and assisted two goals against England – the first player on record (from 1966 onwards) to do so in a single World Cup knockout game.
The entire England team combined completed seven successful dribbles in Atlanta.
Messi had seven touches in the opposition box – the same as every English player added together. Ditto his four chances created.
He also put in a game-high nine crosses.
And by far the most important, he set up both of Argentina’s goals.
The first was from a corner routine when he found Enzo Fernandez, who slammed in an 85th-minute equaliser from outside the box.
And then he crossed for Lautaro Martinez to head in an injury-time winner.
Ex-England defender Richards said: “He walks around the pitch and then he comes alive when the ball comes to his feet.
“This genius comes into play and sometimes that is just the difference.”
Former England keeper Joe Hart added: “The guys went back to what they did against Mexico and Norway where they locked the door.
“What that did was free up Lionel Messi, who had the skeleton key – he absolutely ran the show for the last 15 minutes.”
England captain Kane added: “For large parts of the game we dealt with him really well, but as always with the most dangerous players in the world when they have the ball they can create something. He’s one of the best players ever for a reason.”
This summer Messi became the all-time top scorer at World Cups with 21 goals (out of his 125 Argentina goals in total).
Fifteen of those 21 have come since his 35th birthday.
Eight have been at this tournament, passing the seven he scored in 2022 – which was just one short of Kylian Mbappe in the Golden Boot race.
This time Messi and Mbappe are level on eight goals. Mbappe’s France play England on Saturday in the third-place play-off.
England’s Bellingham and Kane are on six goals each and not out of the picture.
If players finish level on goals, the tie-breaker is assists – with Messi on four to Mbappe’s three.
Messi could yet finish as the top assister at this summer’s World Cup too – sitting one goal behind France’s Michael Olise.
Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, speaking to the BBC, said: “He’s a little magician, he really is.
“He’s done it all tournament now. You look at the goals scored and the balls he’s put into England’s box.”
It is easy to forget Messi, then at Barcelona and aged 29, actually retired from international football in 2016.
He had lost the 2014 World Cup final to Germany and three Copa America finals.
Since reversing that decision he has won the Copa America twice.
When Messi – then of PSG – lifted the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, it felt as if the final piece of the jigsaw of his career was complete.
Many considered that the final thing missing from the argument over the best player ever – with many considering fellow World Cup winners Pele and Diego Maradona the greatest.
“I am very happy for finishing my journey in World Cups in a final, to play the last game in a final. That is really very gratifying,” he said before the 2022 final.
“There are a lot of years from this year to the next one. I don’t think I will be able to do that. To finish this way is brilliant.”
And when he left Europe the next year to join Inter Miami in the MLS, it seemed like he was going to wind down.
Even during last year’s Fifa Club World Cup, which he played in, it was far from clear if he would be involved this summer.
But here he is, still seemingly unstoppable – even though his game has changed.
Before the England tie, he had walked 47% of the distance he covered in this tournament, the highest percentage of any outfield player.
Tactically he has reinvented himself at least five times, says Spanish journalist Guillem Balague, who wrote a biography on Messi.
Messi has now scored or assisted in 13 consecutive matches for Inter Miami and Argentina.
If he gets involved in a goal in Sunday’s final against Spain, it will equal his record set in 2011 of 14 in a row.
He will also become only the second player after Cafu to play in three World Cup finals.
Surely that will be his final World Cup game? After all, he turns 43 in 2030.
But maybe at this stage we need to stop presuming anything when it comes to the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner.