In World Cup final, Lionel Messi up against Spain

5 min readAtlantaUpdated: Jul 16, 2026 09:03 PM Lionel Messi smiled when asked about meeting Spain in the final of the World Cup on Sunday. “I have faced many of them, and I still follow them. Several of them play for Barcelona, a club I love and continue to follow.”
For nearly 15 years, Messi was the heartbeat of Barcelona, its philosophy dilled into a human figure, the most celebrated footballer in Spain, and the only one Spain wished could be one of their own.
Before the start of his career, Spain’s football federation even deliberated on coaxing him to switch allegiance to Spain. But Messi, even in his teenage years, was firm. He would turn up only for Argentina, although he had left Rosario, his hometown, when he was 12, adapted to life in Barcelona and was as Spanish as his teammates.
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He also took Spanish citizenship, as many do to be regered in the European Union quota for the club, bought house and land, but retained his Argentinian accent. “They ask me why I don’t have a Spanish accent and it’s simple: I don’t want to lose any identification with my country. There were informal contacts to see if I wanted to play for Spain, but I always said that I wanted to play for Argentina and I only felt these colours,” he once said.
For most of the Spanish players, especially those of Barcelona, it’s like their dream and nightmare coming true at the same time. Most of them idolised him when growing up; one of them, Lamine Yamal, the wunderkind, was photographed with Messi for an advertisement shoot when he was barely two months old. Dani Olmo still has a picture of him hanging in his bedroom. Mikel Oyarzabal watched, and still watches, videos of Messi. “It’s an education, but every time I watch him I stand mesmerised.”
In the final on Sunday, they would be tasked to defeat him, to stop him from being the genius they have adored, to suppress the fanboys in them and deny him a second successive title. Some of them will turn up against their teammates; six Argentina players call La Liga their home, and a fortnight after the World Cup, they would be teammates again for their clubs.Story continues below this ad
An awkward situation looms for the managers too. Argentina’s boss Lionel Scaloni spent almost a decade in Spain with various clubs, especially Deportivo La Coruna in their heyday. He met his wife in Spain, and took ba steps into coaching under Spain’s manager Luis de la Fuente.
“Luis has been a huge help to those of us who did the coaching course in Las Rozas. I’ve had chats with him, and he helped us lads who did the (coaching) course in Las Rozas a great deal. I like the way he manages things and how the players give their all for him,” he said before Argentina’s quarterfinal game against Egypt.
Both have similar personalities, withdrawn and evasive of the limelight. Both were uncelebrated in their countries until they started landing the big trophies. The legendary Diego Maradona once berated Scaloni: “Good boy, but he can’t even control a traffic.”
De la Fuente was reportedly picked because he came relatively cheap.Story continues below this ad
Their coaching ideals have similar strains, even if they are not identical. Spain has an array of technically gifted, fluid players capable of quick transitional play. They are near flawless in their set-up, clinical forwards, intelligent midfield and an unbudging defence that doesn’t stoop to cynical challenges or career-stalling injuries. Not even the precociously gifted French forwards and Kylian Mbappe could unravel them. They made them utterly irrelevant, starving them of space and passing outlets.
Only once in the seven games has their backline been breached. This would be Argentina’s staunchest challenge — to break Spain’s irresible symphony.
On the other hand, Argentina were stretched in every knockout game, surviving the skin of their teeth. Every game, they flirted with the peril of crashing out. But somehow, they have discovered the courage and forged the spark to not surrender. Structurally, they could be flawed; in terms of personnel, they don’t match Spain; but they put their lives on the line to not lose. Argentina cannot be defeated until the whle is blown. As England and Egypt would confess, they keep bouncing back. Scaloni summed up the philosophy that drives them: “This team plays best when facing adversity. The opponent hesitates a bit, we smell blood, and we go for it. That’s the feeling I’m left with.”
At the heart of their comebacks has been the man who knows Spain better than most in Spain’s squad, the man Spain once coveted, the man who most Spaniards worship. But for one evening, they would want Messi to fail — and for one evening, Messi wouldn’t mind the tears of Spain.