DOHA: Lionel Messi is in a place we all want to be in but know we just can't. He's always that half foot ahead of you, your insides turning as he twists this way and that providing needle-eye passes for kids on his team 10 years younger, to fire.
Ask Josko Gvardiol. By far the best defender at this World Cup, but the morning after you realise you've lost your kidney, spleen and much of your insides the night before, and there's not an incision to show for it. Not a foot wrong, nary a wrong tackle, but nowhere near Messi for the assist in the final goal after the master's one-for-the-ages takedown of Luka Modric's excellent Croatian side in the semifinal.
And then the little man, timeless as they come, acknowledges a fact of life. "Sunday will be my last game in a World Cup. I don't think I can do another," Messi was telling a shocked world. This time, the 35-yearold Argentinian was smiling and we were reeling under the impact.
Even at half pace, Messi is at the peak of his powers
Maybe it's that inner calm that Lionel Messi seems to have stumbled upon here, like finally finding that oasis in this desert World Cup.
It can be unnerving to watch, the switch from clinical execution to a Zen-like team elder afterwards, willing and wanting to talk to anybody and everybody who seeks a piece of him. He will then smile warmly and bask in the crazed, thankful love of the Argentine faithful. It's been happening here in Qatar every other day.
His team manager uses a nice word to describe the state his namesake and star finds himself in. "Tranquilo," says the urbane, thoughtful Lionel Scaloni employing it often to describe the state of mind of football's greatest most-called name.
And in Qatar, and by extension the world, Buenos Aires to Bangladesh via Brunei, everyone's been wanting a piece of Messi. The difference this time is that the once shy, mumble-happy is just as happy to give.
Messi is at the peak of his powers this time, even if at halfpace. There is serenity, there iscalm, there is destiny. But whatever happens on Sunday, will not take away from the man his footballing immortality.
And as the world realizes this unfolding at Qatar and there is an outpouring of adulation. Suddenly, it doesn't matter whether he wins on Sunday, or not. If you've reached this level of acceptance, then you've already conquered the world.
For long, Maradona had been football's most polarising figure, dividing the world with equal love and hate. Messi's just been unifying that world ever since he burst upon the scene as an undeniable, once-in-a-lifetime talent so many years ago.
Imagine being Lionel Messi all these years. On Tuesday, after yet again, showing us what he is capable of, he was telling us enough is enough. "I am very happy for finishing my journey, to play the last game in a final," he would say, "There are a lot of years from this year to the next one." In 2026, three and a half years from now, will be 39.
"I don't think I will be able to do that. To finish this way is brilliant." One last match game to go, before the Messi show leaves town. Grab your tickets before they run out.
