For the past two decades, watching Lionel Messi has been a joy, a privilege and a source of near-constant wonder.
There are good footballers, there are great footballers, and then there is Messi, who plays as if he has been sent here from another dimension, a superior life form inside the 5ft 7in frame of a normal guy from Rosario, Argentina.
Watching Messi at this World Cup — and indeed the previous one, given how little we knew at the time — has felt different.
You are not just watching in awe of his otherworldly talent.
You are watching in disbelief that he is still doing it, albeit perhaps more sporadically, at the age of 35 in Qatar in 2022 and at the age of 39 now, and knowing, in the knockout stages, that each time might be the last you see him play on the sport’s biggest stage.
📝 @OliverKay
🔗 https://t.co/oDcrg81VSa
This is the best thing I have seen all year. No one deserved it more. One of those fairytale stories you read in children books when you are a kid, incredible...
Lionel Messi y Viva La Vida de Coldplay.
https://t.co/AUuxPmU7KB
Hermano, gracias por todo lo que me cuidaste desde el primer día. Sobran las palabras contigo, todo lo vivido... Pero sobre todo, todo mis respetos para ti!
Todo lo mejor en el futuro!
Hoy y siempre, @setoo9!