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The Economic Times
The Economic Times
National
Rudraneil Sengupta

Age against the machine: Messi & Vozinha, unlike Ronaldo so far, have shown that they can make a mountain out of ‘over-the-hill’

Vozinha Lionel Messi World Cup Cristiano Ronaldo Football Cape Verde Jorge Valdano Spain United States

Behold, Lionel Messi. 38, 39 on Wednesday, he now plies his trade in the football backwaters of Major League Soccer (MLS), still The Man, still magic, still unstoppable.

If there was one thing missing from the cosmic dance of his résumé — star-clustered with league titles, record-breaking numbers of goals and assists, a meteor shower of Ballon d’Ors, and a World Cup trophy — it was a hat-trick at a World Cup. Duly completed at 38 years and 357 days, in Argentina’s opening match against Algeria, 20 years to the day since he made his World Cup debut with a goal against Serbia and Montenegro.

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