Messi meets England eventually with World Cup final on the road

Lionel Messi has done nearly every little thing possible in an excellent profession, however the 39-year-old Argentinian great has never taken on England — he’ll finally get the possibility in Wednesday’s World Cup semifinal.

Messi won his 2 hundredth cap for the Albiceleste within the group-stage victory against Algeria and dreams of leading his country to the ultimate once more.

The diminutive playmaker is definitely in the ultimate days of a remarkable international profession which began when he was a fresh-faced 18-year-old in 2005.

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Having broken into the Barcelona team late the previous 12 months, Messi had just starred for Argentina as they won the Under-20 World Cup within the Netherlands.

He was handed his Argentina bow by Jose Pekerman in a friendly against Hungary in Budapest that August, replacing Lisandro Lopez within the sixty fourth minute and joining Hernan Crespo up front.

Ninety seconds later he was sent off for what the referee saw as an elbow. It was quite the ignominious way for his Argentina profession to start.

“An 18-year-old kid who’s making his debut for the national team and has a lot hope — he can’t be punished like that. The referee needed to be more understanding,” said Crespo.

Messi might look back now and laugh at that incident, which led to him being suspended for a friendly against England in Geneva three months later.

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The nations haven’t met since, and so Messi will play against the Three Lions for the very first time under the roof of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

“I actually have played against everyone except England and it’s special because they’re a serious nation, a powerhouse, and it’s all the time nice to play against a side like that, especially in a World Cup semi-final,” said Messi after Argentina beat Switzerland in Kansas City within the last eight.

Emulating Maradona

The person who emulated Diego Maradona by inspiring Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar 4 years ago will now hope to depart the same mark on England as his legendary predecessor.

Any meeting of those countries evokes memories of the 1986 quarter-final on the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, when Maradona punched in to attain the ‘Hand of God’ opener after which ran past half the England defence for his team’s second goal -– perhaps the best World Cup goal of all time.

Messi has not scored one quite like that, but ahead of the semi-finals of the present tournament he had scored more World Cup goals than every other player.

With 21 goals from a tournament record 32 appearances, he led France skipper Kylian Mbappe by one after the quarterfinals.

The Inter Miami player had found the online in nine consecutive World Cup matches before the Switzerland game, when he let others — notably Julian Alvarez — take over the goalscoring duties.

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Argentina is now one game away from reaching one other World Cup final, as they aim to grow to be the primary team to retain the trophy since Brazil in 1962.

It might be a 3rd final in 4 World Cups, and Messi could follow within the footsteps of Brazil great Cafu. The complete-back played in three in a row from 1994 to 2002 –- even Maradona only played in two.

“Getting to a different semi-final isn’t a standard, mundane thing, so that is something we should always really enjoy because we don’t know if it would occur again,” Messi said.

The England players will hope to enjoy it as well.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Nico O’Reilly, who’s prone to come up against Messi if he starts at left-back, told BBC Radio 5 Live.

“He’s coming towards the tip of his profession. For me personally, he’s the most effective player to ever touch a football pitch. And yeah, I can’t wait for the challenge.”