This is how Leo Messi's latest miracle was cooked

BarcelonaArgentinians cry. They cry a lot, when they talk and play football. It's part of their identity. They love this sport and this national team so much that they cry a lot. And it's beautiful that it happens. Giuliano Simeone, Cholo's son, also cried. He did so talking about Messi. "He's 39 years old. And you see how he plays, how he fights... If he has already won everything. And he keeps fighting," said the excited Atlético de Madrid footballer, who will play a World Cup final, a feat his father did not achieve. "When you see Leo fighting for every ball like that, we have to give our all to help him," added Leandro Paredes. "He suffered a lot with the national team and has given us a lot of glory. We will do it for him," defended Cuti Romero. Lionel Messi plays surrounded by a group of footballers who seem like the praetorian guard of an emperor, ready for anything to defend their leader. But if you ask Messi, he says they are nothing more than "a group of friends", who bond by making barbecues.

At 39 years old, Messi is happy. During this World Cup, he has often spoken of "the gift that football has given me". He refers to the possibility of enjoying this World Cup, the sixth of his career, when many already imagined him retired at this age. At 39 years old, Messi will play a new final. It will be the third of his career. Not even Pelé played as many, as the Brazilian missed the one in 1962. Only one man so far, the also Brazilian Cafu, has played three finals, those of 1994, 1998, and 2002. Now Leo will equal him. And in fact, he will surpass him, as Messi will become the first man to be a starter in three finals. Cafu was a substitute in 1994, coming on for an injured teammate. And to understand the success, one must also understand the context. This group of friends who have surrounded him. "Scaloni's figure is key. He is a great manager who has created a united group around Messi. He knows how to manage emotions", wrote the journalist from La Nacion Federico Águila.

Not even Maradona had played three finals. Messi, yes. And he wants to win on Sunday to add a second star to his record, a feat that Diego also did not achieve. "For years we have compared them. Maradona brought joy to Argentinians when we needed it most, creating a fame around him that made him almost a saint. For years it seemed impossible for someone to be like him and Leo's miracle is that he has managed to create his own story, being as loved as Maradona," said writer Eduardo Sacheri, author of the script for the Oscar-winning film The Secret in Their Eyes. And it is certainly true that for years, comparisons with Maradona seemed to suffocate Messi. On Sunday he will seek to win his second World Cup in a stadium, the MetLife in New York, where in 2016 he announced that he was leaving the Argentine national team after losing the second consecutive Copa América final against Chile. "I'm leaving, it can't be, we haven't achieved it," he said then, frustrated, as there was no way to win titles with Argentina. Things have changed a lot since then. "Four years ago I played anxiously. It was very hard. Now that he has a World Cup, he plays liberated. We see him happier," defends Águila.

Since that 2016, Messi has won the Copa América twice and, of course, the Qatar World Cup in 2022. The comparisons with Maradona have ended. The Rosario player has taken a weight off his shoulders and breathed. "In Qatar, everyone understood that it was Messi's last great opportunity to be a champion. And that was key. Scaloni created a very united group and surrounded Messi with young people who had grown up admiring him. These players gave their all to make Messi's dreams come true," defends Sacheri. A group that, four years later, continues to act as the praetorian guard of the number 10. And all the young players who join the team, like Simeone, do so with the same attitude. "I grew up watching his games and now I play with him. It's a dream," defended the Colo Barco. "If the young players see Messi enjoying himself and working, they follow him. Credit also to Scaloni, a silent hero, who manages to have a group that doesn't stop believing. Perhaps it has less football than other teams, but it has spirit," says Águila. "You wonder if this team and this player still have stories to write. And the answer is always affirmative," he added.

Messi's secret is happiness, surely. Leaving Barcelona left him very touched. In Paris, the days were gray, like the sky on a November day in the French capital. In Miami, the sun has come out. The club, curiously presided over by an Englishman, David Beckham, wanted to create a whole project around him. And they have made sure that Messi has everything he needs. A quiet life with his family, friends to play with, and a sporting project that has allowed him to reach the World Cup in good shape. "Messi needs to play and compete, he doesn't need to rest," Javier Mascherano, then Inter Miami coach, argued a few months ago. The number 10 usually plays almost always in a league that is improving, but it still has a slower pace than the European leagues. An ideal environment to have enough challenge to stay in shape, without wearing himself out as much as he would in the Champions League. With the Florida team, in fact, he has won titles and has been seen very motivated to win the three main titles in the United States. He only lacks the region's Champions League, which he missed by falling in the semifinals in 2025.

And with the national team, he gets along well with Scaloni. He no longer plays matches waiting to see if he'll be criticized, he plays them thinking about winning. "We've done it again, we never give up," he himself said while still on the pitch celebrating with his teammates. If he seems calm off the field, on it he has been reborn to compete. "He's a bit like Michael Jordan, if you anger him, bad idea," Zlatan Ibrahimovic said on American television, referring to the moment when Bellingham went to confront him and Messi, fed up with the Briton, made an ironic face that showed he was angry. The Englishman ended up crying and Messi, in the final, acting as a leader on the pitch and also off it, since in reference to the criticism from those who say the referees help them, he let slip: "They don't give us anything for free, whoever it bothers."

Defeating the English was one of the last challenges he had left. But challenges never end and on Sunday a bigger one arrives. At 39 years old, he has played 1,163 games, scored 919 goals and made 418 assists. And the challenges don't end. At the World Cup, he is currently the footballer who has scored the most goals, 21, and has provided the most assists, 12. And he still wants more. He is the top scorer of this World Cup and leads all offensive statistics. Against the English, he successfully completed 9 dribbles, a figure that no player had achieved for years. He does it at 39 years old. He is happy playing. And that must be his secret.