Every great story needs an ending that matches everything that came before it. For years, it looked like football might not give Lionel Messi his.
By the time the 2022 World Cup arrived in Qatar, Messi had already won almost everything a player can win at club level — league titles, a Champions League, individual Ballons d'Or beyond count. But the one prize that had always slipped away, the one his career would ultimately be measured against, was the World Cup itself.
Argentina's tournament didn't start the way a fairytale is supposed to. They lost their opening match to Saudi Arabia, a result so unexpected it briefly threatened to derail the entire campaign before it began. Messi and his team responded the only way they could — by winning every match that followed.
The final against France became one of the most dramatic matches in World Cup history. Messi scored twice, including the opening goal of the game, as Argentina built a 2-0 lead that looked comfortable until Kylian Mbappé scored twice in under two minutes to drag France level. Argentina regained the lead in extra time, only for Mbappé to complete a hat-trick and send the match to penalties.
Argentina held their nerve in the shootout. When the final penalty went in, Messi dropped to his knees, surrounded by teammates, finally holding the one trophy that had eluded him through nearly two decades at the top of the sport.
It wasn't just a personal triumph — the "perfect ending," as many former players and pundits called it, closed the loop on a career that had somehow, remarkably, never had one true down moment. There was no other trophy left to chase, no argument left to settle.
Messi had simply won everything there was to win.
What made it resonate beyond Argentina was the sense of timing. Messi was 35, playing in what he had already suggested might be his final World Cup. Rather than fading out, he produced some of the best individual performances of the entire tournament, finishing as both the tournament's top assist provider and winner of the Golden Ball as its best player.
Some athletes chase their ending for years and never find it. Messi got his — on the biggest stage football has, in the last World Cup he was likely to play, against the one player many believe will eventually stand where he does now.