Whenever he does hang his cleats up, Lionel Messi will probably be remembered as the greatest soccer player in history. And with his likely last World Cup game on the docket — the 2022 Final this Sunday — he may well capture the one title that has eluded him over his entire career.
During Argentina’s semi-final bout with Croatia, the 35-year-old Messi showed why his trademark dominance has him again on the precipice of soccer’s greatest team honor. The Argentinians, of course, humbled the Croatians in a 3-0 win. And after he scored an easy penalty kick goal, Messi later decided to stunt on his opponent with an exclamation point play/pass that set up Argentina’s third tally.
While there are countless broadcast replays of the Messi highlight, a close-up video from actor Connor Kalopsis at the stadium in Qatar shows just how unbelievably hard the superstar worked before setting up Julián Álvarez on the doorstep.
It is positively bananas to see from this view:
by far the best video i’ve ever taken #messi pic.twitter.com/vJglh088Dr
— Connor Kalopsis (@ConnorKalopsis) December 13, 2022
I mean, COME ON! Messi takes a play that took around 10 seconds to develop and seemingly does it all in the blink of an eye when you see it presented like that.
I’d say other soccer players could replicate what Messi did with his assist, but we all know that probably isn’t true. Messi now leads this World Cup in both goals (6) and assists (5). All he needs is that elusive World Cup title to cap what has been a truly immaculate tournament for the legendary No. 10.
Soccer fans were in total awe over this angle of Messi's assist vs. Croatia
This run and assist is so good from Messi it actually reminds me of…Messi's famous goal against Athletic Club back in 2015 https://t.co/ZZfEoU31xf
— Oliver Holt (@OllieHolt22) December 13, 2022
The guy who recorded this: https://t.co/dq4agJpQHd pic.twitter.com/jc6NDVBf12
— sammy j (@sammj007) December 13, 2022
Wow. Wow. Freak. #Messi𓃵 https://t.co/pZJxs24UTN
— Mathew Thompson (@MathewJThompson) December 13, 2022
This guy! Great video. Amazing
player. ⚽️ https://t.co/LwKmQmtRxE— Mark Tighe (@MarkLTighe) December 13, 2022
The greatest of all time https://t.co/xIbMwn9Taa
— Eunan🇦🇷 (@E19177) December 13, 2022
M🙏🏼E🙏🏼S🙏🏼S🙏🏼I
#10 🤍#Messi𓃵 https://t.co/Qu97dpsy01
— Kavin (@Kavin_m_0431) December 13, 2022
he's 35 bro https://t.co/FdHZIqKxJs
— 👑🇿🇲 (@kelechx) December 13, 2022
How incredible! https://t.co/iEXktS36jz
— Carolina Sampó (@carosampo) December 13, 2022
Surreal. https://t.co/s9Rhv81V3a
— Araújo (@marianasaa14) December 13, 2022
Everything about this is just amazing https://t.co/T3ZL3RFRhL
— Richard Amofa (@RichardAmofa) December 13, 2022
Thirty-five. Years. Old. https://t.co/NBeK0fIqdL
— Richard Buxton (@RichardBuxton_) December 13, 2022
