There are two people in football today who are not judged by what they won but judged by what they didn't, Lionel Messi and Pep Guardiola. Guardiola was always mocked for not winning the UEFA Champions League rather than praised for dominating every league he played, including the "best league in the world". Messi, on the other hand, has every achievement, record, and trophy he won with Barcelona was always met with "but, he didn't win anything with Argentina".

The 2010 World Cup aftermath painted to us what the career of one Lionel Messi would be like, Messi is the only one directly demanded to win the World Cup despite how illogical that demand may be in current circumstances, the 2022 World Cup isn't excluded.

Contrary to popular belief, Messi started his Barcelona career under pressure as well. I know some love imagining that Barcelona was dominating the league when Messi started, hence, they always compare his goal tally in La Liga since 2004 when comparing him with Cristiano. But, the fact of the matter is, Messi was starting for Barcelona during their worst period in recent history.

In the 2006-07 season, Barcelona was declining gradually, that's why when the 2007-08 season came around, Barcelona lost 4-0 against Real Madrid, gave them a guard of honour, and ended the season in third place with 18 points difference from the champions, Real Madrid. Barcelona had won only half of their matches during that period.

During the same period, Messi saw Cristiano become the main man in his team before him, winning the UEFA Champions League before him, winning the Ballon d'Or before him, and winning the Golden Boot before him. In 2008, Messi hasn't done any of those things. So, Messi was born under that pressure, despite what people have been claiming in the last 12 years, yet he emerged and made up the difference in the years to follow, winning more Ballon d'Ors and more golden boots.

Why Couldn't He Handle The Pressure In Argentina?

The answer is that what was happening whenever he put on the Argentina shirt wasn't pressure, it was insanity, animosity, character assassination, and hatred that no other player has suffered before with his national team. This level of insanity, animosity, or call it whatever you may, isn't made to be overcome, not by Messi or anyone else. This is why when I said that Messi winning the World Cup cost him more than it gained him.

What I said in the aforementioned post and series wasn't nonsense or came out of nowhere, it doesn't mean that no one should celebrate the World Cup, or that the World Cup is worthless. What I was saying is that the World Cup for Messi especially wasn't worth all the hard work, blood, and tears shed in the process. That's because nothing is worth all that, and no player deserves to be treated this inhumanely.

What makes this worse is that Messi didn't really come above that pressure. Go back in time to the 2021 Copa América and you'll see a match where Messi gave his worst performance in that tournament. That was the only match in all of the finals Messi played where he got a clear scoring chance and missed it. So, by any measurement taken from those pressure claims for Messi, he failed, yet, Argentina as a team won. Still, that win liberated Messi and allowed him to perform the way he did in the matches that followed all the way to the World Cup final.

I am still behind my statement that Messi didn't do anything in the 2022 World Cup that he hasn't done at least tens of times before, still, we never saw Messi as calm, confident, and with that spirit with Argentina before. But, to get to that mental space, Messi needed to win that Copa final when he wasn't among the best players in the match. Messi's only highlight from that match was his miss against Alisson.

Messi didn't overcome that pressure or learn anything from it, simply because that level of insane, hate-filled pressure isn't made to be overcome or have anything learned from it. These pressures are built on decades of lies, that Maradona and his fans kept repeating in Argentina with Cristiano's fans and people who didn't like Messi taking them to the international level. The problem is that people in Argentina loved those lies because they made their lives easier as they could only blame one person and glorify without having to think.

When I said that Messi was liberated after the Copa win, that wasn't my statement, it was Jorge Valdano's. Jorge Valdano was part of Real Madrid's administration and was among Argentina's 1986 World Cup squad, it is for his own benefit that Messi's run was undermined as it would make his World Cup win look better. Still, he saw the inhumanity with which Messi was treated. He had no reason to lie.

Before the 2022 World Cup final, Jorge Valdano said that the difference between Messi and Maradona in the World Cup is that Maradona was 26 years old and in his physical prime while Messi is in his late years.

Perhaps the greatest example of the pressure Messi was under is that his own fans couldn't handle it and started blaming others. Messi's fans undermined the entire Argentina national team in order to absolve Messi of that blame, with Higuain taking a lot of that hate aimed at him as his miss against Germany resulted in years upon years of bullying that even when he retired, eight years after the 2014 World Cup, there were still a lot of comments bullying him for his miss.

In Conclusion

It may seem like I am over-attached to this topic, but as we will see in the final part of this series, Messi himself still remembers everything.

The level of animosity Messi was suffering has no like in the world of football. Every player would be celebrated for reaching the World Cup final and then two Copa finals, but not Messi. Every player would be celebrated for winning the Copa, but not Messi. Every player would be celebrated for winning CONMEBOL–UEFA's Cup of Champions with a win over the Euro champions, Italy, but not Messi. Messi lived his career not celebrated for what he won but mocked for what he didn't.