ATLANTA: Lionel Messi already won the World Cup, but the Argentine captain added another chapter to his amazing career on Wednesday, inspiring his team to victory in the semi-final against England.
The defending champions dealt with this, trailing to Anthony Gordon’s goal until the 85th minute in Atlanta before Messi worked his magic.
This time the tournament’s all-time leading scorer did not score. But he set the ball up for Enzo Fernández for the equalizer and delivered the cross for Lautaro Martínez to head in the winning goal, sealing the 2-1 victory.
“They are special feelings. I think the team could feel it and this was a game that the Argentine people really wanted to win, and so did we,” Messi, 39, said after facing England for the first time in his career.
“This remains a special meeting.”
He failed to emulate Diego Maradona, who scored two iconic goals in Argentina’s victory over England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinals.
But he will settle for two assists, and has already emulated his legendary predecessor by winning the trophy four years ago in Qatar.
Now, after Argentina maintained its incredible record of never losing a World Cup semi-final, Messi will appear in a second consecutive final and a third overall.
The South Americans are aiming to become the first team to retain the World Cup since Brazil in 1962, and Messi, the sole survivor of the team that lost to Germany in 2014, will become just the second player after Brazilian great Cafú to appear in three finals.
“It’s crazy to play consecutive finals,” he said.
Argentina had already staged a stunning late comeback to beat Egypt 3-2 at the same Atlanta stadium in the round of 16, and they smelled blood as England sank deeper and deeper after taking the lead.
“Once again we managed to get the job done when things looked bad. We never stopped believing,” said Messi, who has played a record 33 World Cup matches in six different tournaments.
For long periods on Wednesday his influence was limited, but that has often been the case with Messi and he was still able to drag his team to victory.
“I felt like for a lot of the game we treated him very well. But as always with the most dangerous players in the world, when they have the ball in the final third, they can create something,” England captain Harry Kane said.
“He did it again today. He’s obviously one of the greatest players of all time for a reason.”
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Messi is arguably the best of them all, and there may be no more discussion if Argentina successfully defends their title in Sunday’s final against Spain.
Pelé and Maradona only played in two World Cup finals, while Maradona won the trophy only once.
Messi is also the all-time top scorer in World Cup history with 21 goals, although Kylian Mbappé is just one behind and plays against England on Saturday in the play-off for third place.
He could easily have retired from international football after 2022, when Argentina defeated France in the final.
But it seems he has been saving himself for this World Cup in recent years, moving away from the intensity of European football and acclimatizing to American conditions with Inter Miami.
While Cristiano Ronaldo’s continued presence in the Portugal national team may have held them back, Messi remains almost as influential as ever.
“He is simply the leader and the key player in any team he plays for,” England coach Thomas Tuchel said.
He now has the opportunity to play against Spain in a competitive match for the first time, and the identity of the opponent makes the occasion even more special.
Messi moved to Barcelona with his family at the age of 13 and stayed for two decades, before leaving in 2021 for Paris Saint-Germain.
He has a Spanish passport and may one day settle again in Castelldefels, near the coast of Barcelona.
But before Messi thinks about that, he wants to extinguish Spain’s dreams.
