On Saturday afternoon Argentina were knocked out of the World Cup finals by a vibrant and ebullient French team. They were spearheaded by an effervescent teenager, the brilliant an energetic 19 year old Kylian Mbappe.
When Mbappe scored his second goal on Saturday he made history by becoming only the second teenager in World Cup history to score more than one goal in a knockout phase match, the other being the illustrious Brazilian legend Pele.
The French forward plays his club football for Paris Saint Germain, and after his £128 million transfer from Monaco to the Parisians, he became the second most expensive player in history, behind the hype-train that is Neymar Jr.
The Mystery Of Messi
On the opposite side of the pitch Lionel Messi cut a forlorn figure, at 31 years of age he knows that this World Cup represented his last realistic chance of leading Argentina to a World Cup final victory.
The fact that Messi watched a vibrant youngster score two goals, perhaps highlighted the fact to him that he has never scored in a World Cup knockout phase match for Argentina. Which is a stunning statistic for the former Fifa World Player of The Year.
The Little Wizard has won every accolade possible at club level, multiple domestic and European league titles, World Player awards, cups and medals, Lionel Messi has done it all at club level, to say he has had a glittering career can perhaps be said to be an understatement.
However he has never managed to win anything with Argentina, not one single trophy or medal...
This is doubly strange because it's not like Argentina are bereft of talent, players like Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero are all world-class players and on paper at least, would seem to be the perfect foil for the talented Messi.
But alas no, whilst Messi's rival and arch nemesis Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, did not manage to inspire Portugal to progress beyond the second round of the World Cup. He did however drag them over the line at the European Championships two years ago.
The fact that Ronaldo's Portugal are the current European Champions highlights the fact that he is a greater influence on his team than Messi could ever be on Argentina.
Man-for-man Portugal are not as good a team as Argentina, and realistically before the tournament began it was the Argentines who were being touted as potential winners of the whole thing. So why is it that with such a great player at their disposal they haven't won anything?
The Ego Has Landed
Last month Cristiano Ronaldo's Real Madrid won an unprecedented third Champions League title in a row. The feat hadn't been done since the CL was known as the European Cup and was purely a knockout competition.
In the final Gareth Bale scored what will go down as one of the greatest Champions League goals of all time, the fans went wild and so did his teammates. All except one, Cristiano Ronaldo; at the end of the game Ronaldo looked like he was on the losing team; why? Because the glory of scoring the winning goal went to Bale and not him.
While this seems unbelievable it perhaps shines a light on why Ronaldo has managed to inspire the Portuguese to victory while Messi has not done the same with Argentina.
Perhaps to truly be the greatest, there is an amount of selfishness and ego-driven pride that is necessary to possess, which Lionel Messi simply doesn't have.
When Messi was just about to score a record amount of goals for Barcelona, he instead let a teammate who hadn't scored a goal take a penalty, Ronaldo would never do that.
In fact Ronaldo has even shown anger when his teammates score, once even trying to claim an offside when another Real Madrid player scored a goal instead of him!
Whilst this might not make him the most likeable player in the world, it has made him the best. Messi has shown you don't have to be selfish and arrogant to be brilliant, but maybe, just maybe if he was a tiny bit more ego-driven, Argentina would have won a World Cup or at least a South American Championship with him in the side.
He still has time of course, perhaps next year when their bitter rivals Brazil host the Copa America, the Barcelona star can finally claim an international medal, and finally end the curse of Messi.
WHAT DO YOU THINK; WHY HAS LIONEL MESSI NEVER DONE IT ON THE INTERNATIONAL STAGE? IS IT BECAUSE OF HIS LACK OF EGO, OR PERHAPS IT IS SOMETHING TO DO WITH THE ARGENTINE SET UP? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!
Title Image: Fauzan Saari on Unsplash