The Argentina shirt won’t feel quite the same without the No. 10. 🇦🇷 A career full of pressure, perseverance, heartbreak and ultimately glory. What a legacy, Messi. 🙌
🚨💣 BREAKING: Carlos Baleba to Manchester United, here we go! Verbal agreement in place between clubs.
Improved bid sent today after £65m package rejected and player set to join the only club he wanted.
Baleba, new #MUFC player soon. 🇨🇲
When do we talk about the atrocities in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. Why the liberals , media and leftists are silent now!
Selective outrage and criticism are perhaps the worst thing to do. It exposes your agenda and the flow of money.
#pok
This doesn't even sound like a conspiracy anymore. Something clearly happened behind the scenes before the World Cup Final. Too many things don't add up.
• Scaloni arrived at the stadium and got off the team bus in tears.
• Messi "missed" every shot in the warm-up. In over 20 years, I genuinely can't remember ever seeing that. Was he doing it deliberately, or was his mind somewhere else?
• Messi's family didn't even come to the stadium despite living in Miami.
• The entire squad walked out of the dressing room with their heads down, completely shaken up. Enzo and Licha were both seen crying.
• Messi was heard saying: "Let's forget about everything. Let's just play. Forget about everything." Everyone around him looked devastated.
• Scaloni completely abandoned the tactical approach that had worked throughout the tournament, leaving the midfield exposed against a team whose biggest strength is midfield control. Messi and Julián were isolated all game.
• Argentina had 0 shots on target in 90 minutes, yet Lautaro, one of their biggest attacking weapons, never came on.
• Both Cuti Romero and Lisandro Martínez asked to be substituted because of "injuries", yet neither looked to be in obvious pain. These are arguably the two toughest players in the squad. Interestingly, both also ignored Trump during the trophy presentation.
• Spain committed over 20 fouls without receiving a single card. Oyarzabal's challenge on Messi's knee and Cucurella's foul on Simeone were both obvious booking opportunities.
• Cucurella also somehow escaped a red after covering his mouth during a confrontation with Messi.
• Even Spain's celebrations felt strangely subdued. From a neutral perspective, that's understandable given Argentina never really put on a fight.
This isn't meant to take anything away from Spain. They were World Cup favourites for a reason and fully deserved the title based on what happened on the pitch.
But I've watched this Argentina team since 2021, and I've never seen anything remotely like Sunday. This team's identity has always been its passion, intensity and willingness to fight for every ball. None of that was there.
I'm not claiming to know what happened. Maybe it was connected to the Malvinas incident. Maybe there was pressure from someone powerful. Maybe it involved their families. Maybe it was something else entirely.
But I refuse to believe that what we watched was simply Argentina having an off day.
Too many signs pointed to a squad that looked emotionally broken before the match had even kicked off.
I just hope that one day we find out what really happened behind the scenes.
✉️🇦🇷 Leo Messi’s letter.
“𝑳𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒍 𝑴𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒊’𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓. ❤️🩹🥺
The pain is immense, it will take time for this wound to heal.
But I also choose to hold on to all the good things, all matches we turned around by giving everything and moments that will remain in our memories forever.
I will always remember the support of an entire country that, together with the work and effort of this group, brought us back once again among the best teams in the world.
Today, it is difficult to appreciate what we achieved… but this group has really reached two consecutive World Cup finals.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for every greeting and every message.
Once again, we managed to come together as a country and stand united, sharing the immense pride of being Argentine.
I also want to congratulate Spain on winning World Cup”. 🇪🇸
Messi podría no haber jugado este mundial pero decidió hacerlo y llevarnos hasta la final.
Yo vi a Messi hacer un hat trick en un mundial
Yo vi a Messi ganarle a los Ingleses
Gracias Messi, te vamos a extrañar no sabes cuanto 😭
SIMPLY... THANK YOU, LEO. 🇦🇷✨
Lionel Messi has played his final World Cup match. 💔🏆
It was a journey filled with records, goals, and glory. Your legacy and your 8 Ballons d'Or are eternal. 🌕
🔗 More about his golden career on https://t.co/qkKEZsNOIB!
#ballondor#worldcup #argentina #messi