In the hours after Argentina beat France in the most extraordinary World Cup final ever played, a black Qatari robe draped over his blue-and-white shirt, Lionel Messi kissed the trophy, shuffled toward his team-mates and hoisted it skyward.

Most people assumed that was the end. The greatest player who ever lived, completing the only story that was left to tell, but they were wrong.

Eighteen months later, Messi extended his contract with Inter Miami through 2028. He scored 29 goals and provided 20 assists in a single MLS season – enough to win the MVP award and carry his club to a first-ever title.

In Argentina’s 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign, he finished as the competition’s top goalscorer with eight goals while featuring in 12 of their 18 qualifiers.

The magician, who turns 39 during the tournament, plays on and is aiming to repeat the feat in North America, in what really will be his final World Cup. But can he do it again?

Messi magic in Qatar

In Qatar, Messi became the only player to score in the group stage, round of 16, quarter-final, semi-final and final in a single edition of the men’s World Cup.

His 21 total World Cup goal contributions, 13 goals, 8 assists, are the most by any man at the tournament since 1966.

He became the first player to win five Player of the Match awards at a single men’s World Cup.

Only two players in history have scored five or more goals and created 20 or more chances in a single World Cup tournament. One was Messi in 2022. The other was Maradona in 1986.

Fitness concerns in Argentina camp

Messi grabbed the back of his leg, asked for a sub and went straight down the tunnel in Inter Miami’s last match before the World Cup.

Argentina’s World Cup squad announcement was approaching, and Messi had already admitted earlier this year that his fitness for the tournament remained uncertain.

Inter Miami interim boss Guillermo Hoyos described the issue as fatigue, while Rodrigo De Paul revealed he and Messi have been training twice daily to prepare for the World Cup.

But Argentina and Messi have been here before. Messi missing time for Argentina wouldn’t be anything new. He has been rested at times by Scaloni and came out of the 2024 Copa America final with an injury.

Argentina went on to beat Colombia 1-0 thanks to an extra-time goal from Lautaro Martinez. When Messi goes down, this squad knows how to hold the line.

He is expected to be fit for Argentina’s opener. And based on his pre-tournament warm-up performances, including a penalty in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Iceland, the signs are encouraging.

Argentina’s other stars

The genius of Scaloni’s Argentina is that they do not need Messi to be the Messi of 2022 every single night. They have the squad to carry him when they need to, and that is exactly what makes them so dangerous.

Scaloni has chosen a squad that balances roughly two-thirds of the proven winners from Qatar with a handful of dynamic new faces.

Emiliano Martinez in goal. Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez at the back. Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez in midfield. Lautaro Martinez leading the line, with Julian Alvarez as the irrepressible support act.

If anything, the team is deeper than the squad was in 2022. They are, right now, the most complete international side on the planet.

Ranked third in the world. Reigning champions. Holders of the Copa America. The only team in the modern era to beat Brazil both home and away in the same South American qualifying campaign.

History against Messi

No country has won back-to-back World Cups since Brazil in 1958 and 1962. Sixty-four years without a repeat champion. Italy tried in 1938 and managed it, then nothing. France in 2022 went out in the final. Germany in 2014, Brazil in 2006, Italy in 2010, all defending champions, and all eliminated before the semi-finals.

And then there is the age question. Messi turns 39 on June 24, between the group stage and the knockouts. No player that old has ever won a World Cup outright, let alone dragged a team to the trophy on the back of his own performances.

One last moment of Messi magic?

We know that this will be Messi’s last World Cup. But we also know that this Argentina squad is deeper, more balanced and more resilient than almost anything else at this tournament.

He is three goals shy of the all-time World Cup scoring record. The fairy tale is still very much alive.

Back-to-back World Cup winners for the first time since 1962. An eight-time Ballon d’Or winner lifting the trophy at 39. The greatest player who ever lived, going out on his own terms, on the biggest stage in sport – what a script that is.