Lionel Scaloni's Argentina are bidding to become only the third team to win successive World Cups, after Italy in 1934 and 1938 and Brazil in 1958 and 1962. If they are to pip European champions Spain to the crown, they will need Lionel Messi at his best once more.
“I just see him with the national side, simply because he enjoys it.” — Guillem Balague on Messi
Whatever one makes of that assertion, it cannot be denied that the Argentine maestro is among the finest players ever to grace a pitch. Win on Sunday and Messi will become the first captain to lift the World Cup trophy twice. After perhaps underwhelming in his first four tournaments, he was outstanding in 2022 as Argentina won, and now sits just one goal behind Kylian Mbappe in the race to become the competition's all-time leading scorer.
It is remarkable to recall that Messi initially retired from international football back in 2016 before changing his mind. Sunday's final will be his thirty-fourth appearance at the tournament, but whether it is the last we see of him in the famous blue and white stripes is the question dominating discussion around the squad.
BBC Sport considers what might come next for the great man, and whether he could even aim for a seventh World Cup in 2030. If Messi continues with Argentina to that tournament, he would become the oldest outfield player to appear at a World Cup, at forty-three, unless Cristiano Ronaldo opts to keep going for Portugal. He would also get the chance to play in the centenary matches staged in Argentina at the start of the next finals.
Spanish football expert Guillem Balague does not believe this is the last fans will see of Messi at the World Cup. "Even if you hear it is the end, I doubt it but we'll see. I just see him with the national side, simply because he enjoys it," he said, adding that he does not picture Messi winding down his career at Inter Miami in the MLS and then walking away from the international stage entirely.
Sunday's final will answer the immediate question; the 2030 one, Messi seems content to leave open.
The 2030 question answers itself if you look at incentives: a centenary tournament opening in Argentina is the one stage that could pull a 43-year-old back, and FIFA needs the storyline more than Messi does. The practical variable is not his legs but his role — a hybrid captain-substitute model, which international football has never really had, would be the innovation to watch.
