View source for Lionel Messi

#REDIRECT [[Goat]][[Category:2023 TIME100]]
{{Champion singular|name=the world|border=6cace4}}{{Quote|What stands out to me about Messi, 35, is his consistent greatness over so many years. This is so difficult to achieve, and then maintain. He dribbles like a magician, and his angular passes are works of art. His awareness and anticipation are almost beyond comprehension.<br>My career has just come to an end. I now realize how much weight we athletes carry. But in our daily lives, we don’t even realize it. For a [[football]] player like Messi, that weight likely feels more massive, as he represents both a [[Paris Saint-Germain FC|world-renowned club]] and a [[Argentina|very passionate country]]. Argentina’s [[World Cup]] victory was magnificent. Millions of fans’ taking to the streets of [[Buenos Aires]] to celebrate was an amazing moment in [[sports]], witnessed around the world. Even those who don’t follow football must have realized the true impact of the world’s most popular game.<br>Growing up, [[Diego Maradona]] and [[Gabriel Batistuta]] were my favorite Argentine players. I was lucky enough to meet both of them. They inspired me. Now Messi can inspire future generations. I can only hope we get to see his unique creativity and artistry for a little bit longer. Don’t blink too often as Messi performs on the pitch. You may miss something incredible from the man of the moment.<br>Thank you, Leo.|[[Roger Federer]]}}
<poem><center>The world has been waiting for '''Lionel Messi'''.
They offer up prayers on his behalf.
It is now, or it is never.
The little boy from Rosario, [[Argentina]]
On behalf of every little boy wearing his shirt.
Messi on a million backs.
Messi on a million flashbulbs.
Messi potentially to crown his stellar career.
He's done it before.
He's done it brilliantly for his nation in this competition.
He must do it now.
'''Messi ''must'''''.




Montiel...
Argentina, champions of the world!
Again!
At last!
And the nation will tango all night long!
36 years since Maradona and [[Mexico]],
Here, finally, is a nation's new throng of immortals!
Scaloni will be fated.
Messi will be sainted.
France this time,
Denied,
Defied.

Lionel Messi has conquered his final peak.
Lionel Messi has shaken hands with paradise.
The little boy from Rosario, Santa Fe has just pitched up in [[Heaven]].
He climbs into a galaxy of his own.
He has his crowning moment.
And, of course, he is not alone.
And one feels for [[Kylian Mbappé|Mbappé]], who scored a World Cup final hat trick and lost.
How can that be?

The greatest player of his age finally has the greatest accolade football can afford him,
At the end of one of the greatest football matches ever played.

He was beautiful.
He was the point of difference.
He has always been the point of difference.
Unparallelled.
And maybe today, there will, of course, always be those who argue,
Always be those who debate,
And the debate could rage on if you like,
But as he falls in love with the object in the world that his heart most desired,
It is hard to escape this supposition that he has rendered himself today...

'''The Greatest of All Time.'''</center></poem>