With numerous accolades and awards, Lionel Messi is regarded as one of the best, if not the best soccer player of our generation. However, throughout his career, soccer’s pinnacle award has eluded him time and time again. Messi’s tremendous efforts have not resulted in his own country’s world cup victory. His team and home country, Argentina, even made it to the final in 2014 but had their dreams crushed when Germany’s Mario Götze scored in the 113th minute. Without a team triumph on the biggest stage, many considered players such as Pelé, Maradona, or Ronaldo transcendent of Messi. However, in the 2022 world cup in Qatar, Messi and Argentina delivered, conquering their long-awaited dream. 

Messi’s road to victory was not a smooth one. Critics wondered whether Argentina could really win it all after they opened the competition with a stunning upset loss to Saudi Arabia. This defeat was especially harsh considering Saudi Arabia has only won 4 matches ever internationally, including this one. Fortunately, after beating Mexico, Poland, Australia, the Netherlands, and Croatia with relative ease, Argentina advanced to the final. This would be a battle between the veteran, Messi, and the newcomer, Mbappé, who led the French team into the final. After an exciting 2-2 clash that kept fans’ hearts pounding, Argentina prevailed 4-2 in penalties, which was mostly attributed to the outstanding efforts of Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez. 

Now, after winning the world cup and becoming the first player to score in every knockout round of the world cup, Messi has cemented his legacy as the greatest of all time. There has long been a debate about who owns the title of soccer’s greatest player, Messi or Ronaldo, but the chatter has terminated since Messi achieved his long-awaited dream. “Lionel Messi has conquered his final peak, he has shaken hands with paradise-” Peter Drury, the English commentator of the match, remarked.

After winning Argentina’s third world cup, Messi has stepped out of the shadow of God-like soccer legend Maradona and is finally receiving equal respect as the old-timer. For the Argentinians, this win made them put differences aside for two and a half hours as they watched Messi complete the beautiful game.