Argentina’s star player, Lionel Messi, has announced that he will continue representing his national team despite finally achieving his lifelong dream of winning the World Cup.
In a television interview following Argentina’s epic penalty shoot-out victory over France in the final match, Messi, who is 35 years old and currently plays for Paris Saint-Germain, said, “I want to keep experiencing a few more matches as world champion.”
This World Cup win marks the one major international trophy that had been missing from Messi’s collection.
In the final match, the forward scored two goals in the highly competitive and chaotic game that ended in a 3-3 draw after 120 intense minutes. Messi also scored his spot-kick in the shoot-out, which Argentina ultimately won 4-2.
Reflecting on his career, Messi admitted that it is nearly over as he enters the later stages of his playing days. He said, “My career is nearly over because these are my last years.” However, he added that he could not have asked for a better way to end his career, saying, “Obviously I would like to end my career with this, I cannot ask for more.”
Throughout his career, Messi has had many disappointments on the international stage, including a loss in the 2014 World Cup final to Germany in Brazil.
However, he always believed that his time would come eventually. He said, “It’s crazy that it happened at the time it happened, but it’s amazing. It’s amazing that it could end this way. I said previously that God was going to grant me this and I don’t know why, but I felt it was going to be this time.”
Turning to the match itself, Messi described it as “very strange,” citing the fact that Argentina let slip a two-goal lead not once, but twice.
In the quarter-final match against the Netherlands, and then again in the final against France, Argentina held a 2-0 lead at halftime, only to see it slip away.
In the final, Argentina went on to take a 3-2 lead during extra time, but a hat-trick by France’s Kylian Mbappe, with two late goals in normal time and another in extra time, brought the game to a penalty shoot-out.
Despite the strange and intense nature of the match, Messi was full of praise for the World Cup trophy, saying, “It’s beautiful.”
He was seen embracing his family and teammates after the match, with coach Lionel Scaloni, winger Angel Di Maria, who scored Argentina’s second goal, and goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez all unable to hold back their tears of joy at the final whistle.
In his career, Messi has played 172 times for Argentina, scoring an impressive 98 goals since making his debut in 2005.
It is clear that he is not ready to hang up his boots just yet, and fans of the Argentine national team can look forward to seeing him continue to represent his country on the international stage.
