At the club level, Lionel Messi has accomplished just about everything, winning multiple La Liga, Champions League and Club World Cup titles. But winning titles with the Argentina national team has largely eluded him. Until yesterday.
Messi and La Albiceleste won their first Copa America title in nearly 30 years yesterday, beating rival Brazil 1-0 thanks to a goal from Angel Di Maria. The Copa America win marks the first title that Lionel Messi has won with the Argentina national title.
Messi earned his first caps for Argentina in 2005 when he was only 18 years old. But the next 15 years would be nothing but brutal close calls for La Albiceleste.
The World Cup was especially frustrating for Messi. Argentina reached the quarter-finals in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, narrowly lost the 2014 World Cup Final to Germany, and were knocked out of the 2018 World Cup Round of 16 by eventual champion France.
In the Copa America, Argentina were runner-ups three times, third-place finishers in 2019 and quarter-finalists in 2011.
But 2021 was the year that everything finally worked in Messi’s favor. On social media, many are taking this win to signify that Messi has finally taken his place as the greatest soccer player of all-time:
Lionel Messi. The greatest of all time. pic.twitter.com/T7R3mYRDpX
— DaveOCKOP (@DaveOCKOP) July 11, 2021
Lionel Messi really is going to be the first player ever to win a Ballon d’Or in three different decades.
— Roy Nemer (@RoyNemer) July 11, 2021
7th Ballon D’or incoming. The greatest there is the greatest there was the greatest there will ever be. LIONEL MESSI. pic.twitter.com/d8vJV76leS
— Pitch Invaders (@InvadersPitch) July 11, 2021
Lionel Messi during the 2021 Copa América:
◉ =Most goals
◉ Most assists
◉ Most shots
◉ Most shots on target
◉ =Most chances created
◉ Most goals outside the box
◉ Most through balls
◉ Most accurate final ⅓ passesPlayer of the Tournament again. Champion, finally. pic.twitter.com/O8RdsF1gUH
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) July 11, 2021
Congratulations Lionel Messi on your first international trophy with Argentina 🇦🇷 More than deserved, I think we all agree! #CopaAmerica2021 #CopaAmerica
— Jérôme Boateng (@JeromeBoateng) July 11, 2021
The World Cup is only one year away now. With their win in the Copa America, Argentina will now have more momentum going into it than ever before.
Can Lionel Messi deliver a World Cup to Argentina?
The post Soccer World Reacts To Messi’s First Major Argentina Title appeared first on The Spun.
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