Argentina starlet Enzo Fernandez shared a pitch with Lionel Messi as the pair won the World Cup for the first time, but things could have been very different for the international colleagues.
Messi scored twice in the final, and once in a penalty shoot-out, as Lionel Scaloni's Argentina team beat France to lift the World Cup in Qatar. Back in 2016, though, he had retired from international football with the expectation of never winning a trophy with the Albiceleste.
He was eventually convinced to change his mind, and returned to win the 2021 Copa America before further glory arrived in 2022. Fernandez ended up playing a major supporting role in Qatar, but back in 2016 he was just another young Argentine urging his hero to keep playing for his country in a heartfelt open letter.
"For me, the national team is over," Messi said after Argentina lost the Copa America final in 2016. "I've done all I can. It hurts not to be a champion."
It was a third final defeat in as many years for the star, who was then still a Barcelona player. Germany had beaten Argentina after extra-time in the 2014 World Cup final, while Messi and his team-mates suffered Copa America penalty shoot-out defeats to Chile in both 2015 and 2016.
"I think this is best for everyone," he said after missing in the 2016 shoot-out. "First of all for me, then for everyone.
"I think there's a lot of people who want this, who obviously are not satisfied, as we are not satisfied reaching a final and not winning it. It's very hard, but the decision is taken. Now I will not try more and there will be no going back."
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At the time, Fernandez was a 15-year-old in River Plate's academy. He was still several years away from his club debut, with senior international recognition still a distant dream.
“Please don’t go, Leo,” Fernandez wrote in an open letter on Facebook in 2016, as revealed by fifa.com. “Seeing you play with the light blue and white is the greatest pride in the world. Stay and have fun.”
Six years after that letter, the pair stood on the podium together after both winning individual awards to go along with their team's success. Messi was named player of the tournament after scoring seven times, netting in all but one of Argentina's games, while Fernandez won the young player of the tournament award just a few weeks after making his senior Argentina bow.
The Benfica midfielder only scored once in the tournament, but it was a notable goal. He joined Messi on the scoresheet in a group stage victory over Mexico - a game in which defeat would have seen the eventual tournament winners eliminated after just two games.
