A sensational World Cup has come to an end. It turned out that what was done during the winter helped the footballers as a whole, but also the stars of the event who add another shine to each tournament, to present themselves in the best possible shape.

The great Messi took advantage of this reality and managed to achieve his own dream, but also, as it turned out, the dream of the vast majority of earthlings.

Next to the two gods

There are many footballers who have won the World Cup. It is certainly the greatest title that can be won. It’s more than just winning a sports trophy. But there are many footballers who managed to conquer it, who were protagonists in the teams that made it, but they don’t deserve to join the club with the gods of sport.

Messi, no matter what anyone believes about an inherently wrong comparison, has made it when sport ceases to be eternally alongside the two gods. Next to Pelé and Maradona. For me he didn’t achieve that today with the world championship title. He has not achieved it through his own actions or through any special performance on the field.

The planet showed their love for Messi for a whole month

He achieved it with everything we experienced for a whole month. At this World Cup, the football world felt the need to show their love for Messi. The vast majority was with Argentina. Not just in the stadiums of Qatar, but in every country, in every city, in every village on earth.

It got to the point on the eve of the final when Deschamps explained that there are even French who are with Messi and want Argentina to win the World Cup. France, maybe even Brazil, were the only countries in the world that didn’t live with the thought of Messi winning the World Cup.

There was an incredibly positive energy building up around the Argentina national team all month, showing you that this World Cup was written for Messi to win. It is the will of the world, it remained to be proved that it was also the will of God.

There can be no real comparison between soccer players of different eras

Comparisons between footballers and athletes competing in different eras are inherently wrong. You can’t denigrate footballers who have played in different decades, where the sport is played at different speeds, with different rules, and you’re trying to find a way to make the comparison on the ground.

For example, it is not possible to lay down the statistics and draw a conclusion. For example, it was natural for Pele to have the best scoring average of his era at the World Cup as goals came more easily.

It makes sense that Messi would have a longer tenure at a high level as evolution gives an athlete the right to prolong their good years and play at older ages.

Each era has its own reality that affects achievements. For example, in today’s VAR era, penalties are more easily awarded, which helped Messi become the first player to score in all knockout games he gave at a World Cup. He also helped Mbappe become only the second footballer to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final.

It measures the feeling each player left in their era

But what matters is the feeling he created in the world, the feeling that every great footballer left in his day. Personally and up until the World Cup in Qatar, I believed that the myth created by Maradona is unique. It’s not possible for Diego to sit next to another footballer because no one could or will be loved as passionately as he is.

The way he won the World Cup in ’86 played a role, his decision to go to Naples, to clash with the establishment in Italy, to give him the only championship in his history. Diego’s rebellious temperament also played a role.

Messi was not such a case, more reserved as a personality and a bit more systemic. So I never believed that even with a world title he had the right to join the discussion alongside Maradona.

What has happened for a whole month is unprecedented

I believed it until reality proved me wrong. Until I see clearly how much people love him. Not just Argentines, but the majority of the planet. What happened this month is unprecedented, it’s unique and it’s very big, bigger than any trophy, even winning the World Cup.

Messi in the calculus, who has to do with the myths, with the gods of sport, has to start a conversation and conquer the World Cup. But the most important thing is that it turned out that he won the love of the world in his time.

The conditions were created for there to be millions of people who worshiped him, who today were in danger of falling into a much greater depression than he himself would have had had Argentina not become world champions.

Ebape is already the best of his time, he still has a long way to go

The World Cup is over, so there’s no need to analyze the final. What actually happened is that history was made. Messi, who will stop playing football in a few years, managed to fulfill his dream and win the trophy at the last World Cup of his career.

Mbappe, who has already won one to score a hat-trick in a final and scream he’s the next big one to come. Of course he’s a great footballer in this era, it’s a given that he can scare more than Messi and any other active footballer.

But he has a huge distance to go to be loved by the sport’s fans from the world of football as much as Messi and Maradona were loved. It may be the nature of their people but Argentina have every right to be proud of the world title but also that they have produced the two true gods of sport.