❤️🩹🇦🇷 Leo Messi: “Dad, you kept asking me to play in one last World Cup… just days before it began was when your condition got worse”.
“It was the first time you weren’t going to be there with me at tournament… but Mom kept telling me you were going to get better and that you’d be well enough to travel”.
“I kept telling you we were going to reach the World Cup final so you could make the trip, this was my mission once again”.
“After every match, I waited for and missed your message. That’s when I realized how serious the situation really was”.
“I couldn’t stop thinking about going as far as possible, give you more time and the chance to watch one of the games”.
“We reached the final, but you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it so I could bring the trophy to you and show you another one. I couldn’t”.
“My legs just couldn’t give me any more”.
“This time I tried to push beyond what my body could handle, but I couldn’t”.
“I never managed to feel physically right”.
“We didn’t become champions Dad, but you have no idea how much we enjoyed every match. Once again, you were right: I had to be there and play in it… as you told me, always”.
Imagine if Messi had been benched at the 2022 World Cup while Ronaldo went on to win it.
Imagine if Messi had gone through five World Cups without a single knockout-stage contribution.
Imagine if a 41-year-old Messi could barely complete two passes yet still insisted on playing in 2026.
The same things people would relentlessly mock Messi for are somehow being praised when it comes to that manchild.