Lionel Messi 's son Thiago has written a letter to his father as the Argentina captain bids to lead his country to victory over France in the World Cup final.
Messi suggested before the tournament that Qatar 2022 would "surely" be his last World Cup. He now has a chance to bow out on a high note by winning the tournament for the first time, having come desperately close in 2014 when the Albiceleste were beaten by Germany after extra-time.
The letter from Thiago, 10 was shared on social media by Messi's wife Antonela Roccuzzo. As well as talking about his father's quest for glory, it makes reference to Diego Maradona, who inspired Argentina to World Cup glory in 1986 and died aged 60 in 2020.
"I was born in Argentina, land of Diego [Maradona] and Lionel," the letter begins, per Clarin (via the Mail ). "Of the kids from Malvinas that I will never forget. I can't explain it to you because you won't understand.
"The finals we lost, for how many years I cried for her, but that ended in the Maracana, the final with the brazuqas, Dad won it again.
"Boys, now we are excited again, I want to win the third, I want to be world champion, and we can see Diego from heaven, with Don Diego and La Tota, rooting for Lionel."
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Whichever team wins the final will have done so despite losing a match along the way. Argentina were beaten by Saudi Arabia in their opening group game, while a much-changed France side lost to Tunisia in their final group stage outing after a controversially disallowed late goal from Antoine Griezmann.
Messi and Argentina booked their place in the final after a narrow victory over Australia, a penalty shoot-out triumph against the Netherlands and a 3-0 win over Croatia. Messi starred in the latter, opening the scoring from the penalty spot before going on a mazy run to lay on the third for team-mate Julian Alvarez.
France, meanwhile, wrapped up all their knockout games inside 90 minutes. Les Bleus beat Poland 3-1 in the last 16 before eliminating England and ending the run of giant-killers Morocco to reach the final, and have scored 13 times over the course of the tournament to Argentina's 12.
Messi goes into the final as the joint-top scorer at the World Cup, along with his Paris Saint-Germain team-mate Kylian Mbappe, and his goals against Australia, the Netherlands and Croatia were the first he has ever scored in the knockout stages of a World Cup. Both players have five goals to their name, with Alvarez and Olivier Giroud both one behind.
