Before the whistle at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, every eye in the stands will search, at least once, for one face. No one else — Lionel Andrés Messi. For this man standing in a World Cup final at 39, the night is like the closing of a long life’s circle.
Messi began his journey as a 19-year-old at the 2006 Germany World Cup. He could not shine at the 2010 World Cup. He lost the 2014 final and left all of Argentina in tears. He could not complete the story at the 2018 Russia World Cup either. In Qatar in 2022 he erased that regret, lifting the coveted golden trophy — the one unfulfilled longing of his career. Playing his sixth World Cup in 2026, he has sat alongside Cristiano Ronaldo; Messi is one of only a handful to play six World Cups. But Ronaldo has already said which will be his last World Cup. Messi has not said so openly. Yet whether, at this age and with this body, he can return to the same stage four years from now — everyone knows the answer; only no one wants to admit it.
Before the tournament, the Argentina camp was worried about a minor muscle injury. Though coach Lionel Scaloni said nothing openly, he had to manage Messi through the tournament with rest. Even so, what he showed on the pitch was close to a fairytale. He scored his first hat-trick at this World Cup and is in the running for the Golden Boot. In the semi-final, a 2-1 win over England, he set up both goals to carry the team to the final. His body may not be what it was, but the magic in his eyes and feet remains intact — that very contrast is the most moving aspect of Messi’s final chapter.
Messi has won football’s highest individual honour, the Ballon d’Or, eight times — a mark no one else has touched. He won almost everything in club football for Barcelona. Yet for a long time critics said his feats were incomplete without a World Cup. He erased that slur by beating France on penalties in Qatar in 2022. If Argentina win a second straight title, they will be the first team in 64 years to do so, after Brazil’s back-to-back titles in 1958 and 1962 — and Messi himself will be the central character of that history.
The image of Messi standing silent on the trophy stage after losing the 2014 final at the Maracana still floats before Argentine eyes. For years he carried the burden of that failure, even announcing his retirement after losing the 2016 Copa America final. That same man now stands, at 39, on the stage of a final — perhaps for the last time. Every match now feels to him like an extra gift, extra time he was never even sure he would get.
A great inspiration on Messi’s long road has been his wife, Antonela Roccuzzo. A childhood friend who became his life partner, Antonela has always been his shadow — in the stands with their three sons, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro, in club football and at the World Cup alike. Her presence in that iconic image of Messi celebrating with the trophy in Qatar in 2022 remains one of world football’s most emotional moments. Tonight too, whatever the result, those familiar faces in the stands will perhaps feel this turning of the tide most deeply. On the streets of Argentina, in the cafes of Buenos Aires, in the lanes of Rosario — across Messi’s home city — tonight’s wait is like a breath held in suspense. An Argentine fan in the stands in Atlanta told the media he did not want Messi to retire, because watching him play, it seemed he was still a 25-year-old.
Not only Argentina: from the lanes of Dhaka to village neighbourhoods, the frenzy of blue-and-white jerseys proves that Messi is not the property of any one country — he belongs to all of world football. The burden of being Diego Maradona’s successor, under which Messi grew up, he has risen above. Among the trio of Pelé, Maradona and Messi, his name is spoken without hesitation. Whether Argentina win or lose the final, Messi’s feats will be engraved forever in football’s pages. But a second straight World Cup title in the final chapter of his career would place on him a crown that lifts him forever beyond statistics. The few hours at MetLife are not merely a final. They are the preparation for a farewell, the ultimate test of a legend, and a chapter of a name engraved in the hearts of millions of fans — one that perhaps has no end.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report