Qatar's Lusail Stadium was the venue where Lionel Messi would finally end THE debate.
Seventeen years on from his international bow for Argentina and 172 appearances and five World Cup campaigns later, Messi would finally enter the pantheon of international football greats.
Pele, Diego Maradona, Ronaldo Nazario and Zinedine Zidane would open their arms and embrace the boy from Rosario, Argentina, who finally led his nation to their first World Cup triumph in 36 years after perhaps the greatest World Cup final of all time.
READ MORE: Lionel Messi speech backfired when Liverpool left him 'really screwed up'
READ MORE: What Lionel Messi was wearing as Argentina lifted the World Cup
The Paris Saint-Germain superstar thought he had extinguished any underlying nerves of the tens of thousands of Argentine supporters packed into the Lusail Stadium after just 23 minutes when he coolly sent Hugo Lloris the wrong way from the penalty spot after Angel Di Maria was bundled to the ground by France's Ousmane Dembele.
It was at that moment that an adolescent-like Messi let his emotion seep through as the travelling Albicelestes bowed in worship of their eternal Messiah, who was moving closer to joining Maradona as a transcendent figure within his motherland and perhaps all around the world.
And as the 2018 champions continued to toil in their efforts to thwart Messi, Di Maria and Alexis Mac Allister, perhaps still feeling the full effects of a rumoured virus that circulated the camp earlier in the week, Lionel Scaloni’s side punished France once more as Di Maria rounded off a wonderful team move to put the game well and truly out of sight - or so everyone believed - just 36 minutes into the contest.
While it was the former Real Madrid and PSG playmaker who was credited with the goal, after he produced a delightful dinked finish to lift the ball over the onrushing Lloris, the move was, again, all about the wizardry of the La Seleccion's No.10.
Playing a no-look around-the-corner flick to Mac Allister, Messi was the epicentre of Argentina's bravado as has been theme throughout the finals in Qatar over the last four weeks.
Kylian Mbappe, however, who is broadly considered the heir to Messi's throne, would have the final say of regulation time as made amends for an underwhelming 79-minute display with an improbable 97 second-brace to hurl the French back into the reckoning of a second consecutive world title. Forcing those all around the globe gripped by the all action-encounter to bear at least another 30 minutes of action.
Extra time proved to be just as compelling when Messi swung the pendulum back in his side's favour before Mbappe, once more, had his say with a 118th-minute effort from the spot after Gonzalo Montiel was deemed to have handled the Frenchman’s shot.
Just moments later the defender would have the last laugh as calmly dispatched his spot-kick to ensure Scaloni’s men would hold a status of immortality in the streets of Buenos Aires alongside the classes of 1978 and 1986.
As their fate was sealed, Messi was swamped by his peers. Overcome with emotion, like all of those in the Lusail, he had finally achieved his greatest of triumphs. Although this time he had been made to work that little bit harder than ever before.
If that wasn’t enough for an afternoon's work, the 35-year-old then made history as he became the first player to win FIFA’s Golden Ball award on two separate occasions as his extraordinary efforts over the past month secured him the finals’ most prestigious individual title.
But with Messi now having won everything the game has to offer, it begs the question is there anything left for him to accomplish? Heading back to Paris in the new year, Messi will enter the final six months of his PSG contract and will be able to negotiate a pre-contract agreement with overseas clubs from January 1.
As speculation over his future mounts, the forward continues to be linked with a move to David Beckham's Major League Soccer franchise, Inter Miami, even if PSG chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi suggests otherwise.
Despite having triumphed in the Champions League on four separate occasions during his days with Barcelona, he is arguably yet to fulfil the duty of his 2021 move to PSG, with Parisians still desperate to get their hands on a first European Cup.
After swapping Catalonia, where he spent 21 years of his life after leaving his homeland at the age of 13, for the bright lights of Paris last summer, Barcelona finally paid the price for their absurd financial management in recent years when Messi joined Neymar and Mbappe in becoming the latest figurehead of the Qatari-backed side's quest for Champions League glory.
Of course, the Argentine has only completed one season at the Parc des Princes and he still managed to lift the Ligue 1 title and the French Super Cup. However, it was the circumstance of their Champions League round-of-16 exit at the hands of eventual winners Real Madrid that will have served as a brutal reminder to those at PSG that the club still remain a fair distance away from earning a permanent seat at the top table of the European game.
After beating Los Blancos 1-0 in February’s home leg, three weeks later Mbappe, Messi and Neymar were left stunned on their visit to the Santiago Bernabeu as Karim Benzema fired a 17-minute hat-trick to dump Mauricio Pochettino’s side out of the competition.
That humiliating defeat meant that since the game-changing signings of both Mbappe and Neymar in the summer of 2017, which demanded a combined in the excess of £300m, PSG have exited the competition in the first knockout in four of their six campaigns.
Even upon their return to the competition this season, they made life increasingly more difficult for themselves as they squandered the chance to progress into the knockout stages with top spot in Group H after Benfica’s five-goal winning margin over Maccabi Haifa saw the Parisians demoted to runners-up with practically the final kick of the group.
While his personal triumph in Qatar will no doubt have ended the irritating Cristiano Ronaldo-Messi fuss that has dominated the minds of supporters in the 21st century, Messi will surely have his eyes on fulfilling his sole brief at the Parc des Prince in the remaining six months of the season.
February will see PSG lock horns with Bayern Munich in a repeat of the 2020 final, but should they negotiate their way past the Bundesliga champions they could be drawn against the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City or even holders Real Madrid.
Messi, of course, was dumped out of the competition on his last visit to Anfield in 2019 as Jurgen Klopp’s side staged a remarkable second-leg comeback to defeat the then La Liga champions 4-0.
Earlier that season, both Mbappe and Neymar felt the full impact of Anfield as the Reds defeated PSG 3-2 in a European classic on Merseyside.
Goals from Daniel Sturridge and James Milner would see Klopp’s side race into an early two-goal lead shortly before Thomas Meunier halved the deficit prior half-time. Mbappe thought he had earned a share of the spoils late on as he finished calmly in front of the Kop with just minutes remaining.
But that was before Roberto Firmino struck past the legendary Gianluigi Buffon in injury time to clinch the points for Klopp’s men and inflict further European misery for Ligue 1 side.
As club football returns to regions around the globe in the coming weeks, Messi will no doubt be looking to complete a clean sweep of trophies during the 2022/23 season with both club and country, even if his legacy no longer relies on it.
His efforts in doing so will be boosted by the presence of Mbappe, who became the first player since Sir Geoff Hurst to score a hat-trick in the World Cup final as he more than played his role in the tale of Messi’s World Cup swansong.
But just as they did in 2019, Liverpool will hope to be one of the sides standing in the way as they look to bounce back from last season’s final defeat to Real Madrid and claim their seventh European Cup triumph this time around.
No pressure, Leo.
READ NEXT
- Enzo Fernandez has already proved Liverpool's transfer instincts correct as World Cup final looms
- Michael Owen left concerned after Liverpool signed Champions League winner from Borussia Dortmund
- Barcelona tweet and delete Kylian Mbappe message as Lionel Messi wins World Cup
- Lionel Messi achieves World Cup record that can never be broken
- Despair for Ibrahima Konate as France lose to Argentina in World Cup final
