Lionel Messi may have taken off the bisht but he still carries the air of a man who has won the World Cup. Those who know him say he visibly changed after that night in Lusail almost a year ago, in a good way. It’s already been likened to Muhammad Ali after the Rumble in the Jungle. Messi has that unique air of contentment that comes with completing a lifelong ambition. That’s not something many people can really say. Fewer still can say they are world champions. That’s what Messi can do now. He doesn’t need to, though. He just has that air.
Whether the 22nd World Cup changed Qatar or Fifa is a much more complicated question, to go with a truth that is much more than uncomfortable as football approaches the first anniversary.
