Lionel Messi has a second and final shot at footballing immortality.
The ghosts of ‘what might have been?’ haunted the Argentina star from the very moment that the 2014 World Cup final ended in a 1-0 win for Germany, seemingly vanquishing Messi‘s finest chance of winning the sport’s most coveted trophy in the process.
And with the following tournament in Russia passing by in disappointing circumstances with Argentina crashing out in the round of 16, that fear seemed for a long time to be very true.
Can Messi go one better than in 2014?
However, remarkably, Messi has proven that age is just a number in Qatar by leading the South American champions to their second final in eight years, meaning that the great man can have one last shot at bagging the title that has long evaded him.
And if they’re to exorcise the demons of the Maracana and avoid a second consecutive tournament ending at the hands of France, then Messi and co will almost certainly need to take their chances when they come.
Now, of course, that might well seem like a statement of the obvious, but the simple fact of the matter is that Argentina couldn’t do that during their first shot at history in 2014.
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Not only did Messi fire a brilliant chance of his own narrowly wide of Manuel Neuer’s post himself, but Gonzalo Higuain and Rodrigo Palacio also spurned gilt-edged opportunities of their own.
And it’s simply a mistake that Argentina can’t afford to make twice with any such wastefulness inevitably leaving the door ajar for Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud to pounce.
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How did Messi react to Argentina’s missed chances?
But if anyone knows that, then it’s Messi, because you only have to look at the Barcelona icon’s reaction to those chances that passed Argentina by in 2014 to see the pain that they caused.
Seven years ago, the 35-year-old looked back on that most agonising of days as part of a 2014 World Cup retrospective with FIFA, which captured his reaction to chance after chance passing Argentina by when the scores were locked at 0-0.
In remarkable and not-often-talked-about footage, Messi’s very microexpressions tell the story as he bemoans the ‘pity’ of Argentina failing to finish their dinner against Joachim Löw’s side.
Video: Messi reacts to missed chances in 2014 World Cup final
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Now, that’s seven years ago and you can see the pain on Messi’s face, so just imagine the fizz and hiss of adrenaline that it’ll be stirring up in his stomach right now.
No longer are those chances by Higuain, Palacio and himself distant, irrelevant memories, but now they’re the last point of reference for the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner when it comes to playing in the biggest game in all of men’s football.
Will he be more lethal this time around along with Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez or will he once again be sitting in front of the FIFA camera in due course, wondering: what if, what if?
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