Lionel Messi Saves Argentina’s World Cup Final
The story of Lionel Messi saving Argentina’s World Cup final was both captivating and heartwarming. The Barcelona star scored a wonderful goal in the 90th minute to claim his country’s first World Cup title. It was a moment that made him a hero to some and made some feel angry and disappointed to others.
After the final, he took a picture with his idol, the late Argentinean soccer legend, Nestor “Zulieta” Funes. Funes was a legend in his own right for being Messi’s idol and mentor. After his death in 1973, Messi took his family to visit Funes’ grave in the town of Guaraní, in the northwest corner of Argentina. A day earlier, he had celebrated with some of his teammates and was thinking about the next game.
His thoughts changed when he saw Funes’ headstone was gone. He realized he had just watched the greatest sportsmen in the world die.
Messi was a hero to many, but the world was more divided towards him than any leader in the world history. His teammates were angry and upset. They were angry he scored the goal instead of Messi’s best friend, and a world-record breaking goal-scorer, Sergio Perez.
Many who watched the game on television felt Messi’s goal took away from the winning cause. They felt the entire Argentina team could have scored, because Messi hit the crossbar three times.
Messi was on the pitch to celebrate his team winning the World Cup title. However, he got stuck in traffic when he got to the game’s final, because he was driving back to the team’s hotel after winning the trophy that night.
Messi felt the traffic jam. He looked tired and a bit discouraged.
As time passed, things got worse for us. We sat and talked about the possibility of the game being postponed. It was as if we were stuck in the middle of an airplane ride. The sky was covered with clouds, and we were unable to see the field.
We kept telling ourselves that it would come, that our dreams would come true, that we could finally be free and on top
