Lionel Messi has cultivated a sporting legacy unlike any other. To the majority of the soccer world, he’s the greatest player who has ever lived, seemingly immune to Father Time and still capable of hanging with the very best at the age of 39.
World Cup glory in Qatar saw Messi, in the words of English commentator Peter Drury, “conquer his final peak”, ensuring his glittering career wouldn’t end with a nagging sense of cruel unfulfillment.
