SUMMARY
- In December 2022, Lionel Messi led Argentina to win the World Cup.
- Javier Pastore went on to meet Kylian Mbappe after the match.
It has been more than a year since Lionel Messi led Argentina to World Cup glory in December 2022. It is widely believed that with the World Cup victory, Messi put the never-ending GOAT debate finally to bed. However, there has been a certain section of fans who continue to disagree with the belief. However, the World Cup 2022 controversy has finally ended with Kylian Mbappe’s comment, as revealed by Messi’s former teammate.
In a recent interview with La Nacion, Lionel Messi‘s former Argentina teammate Javier Pastore revealed an interesting anecdote from the PSG dressing room a few months after the 2022 World Cup. Having been a PSG player before, Pastore went to his former club’s dressing room to meet his old teammates. Messi and Mbappe, the two stars of the 2022 World Cup final, were also present during Pastore’s visit.
Javier Pastore: “I saw Mbappé a couple of months after the World Cup final in Qatar, I was in the locker room with him, Messi, and Neymar.
“I congratulated him on the World Cup he had, and he said to me: ‘Nooo, this son of a b*tch Messi defeated us in the World Cup…’ Like a… pic.twitter.com/IcTU8GAeA5
— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) March 21, 2024
Upon reaching the dressing room, Pastore went to congratulate Mbappe for his terrific performance in the World Cup despite ending up as a runner-up. However, Mbappe replied, as revealed by Pastore, “Nooo, this son of a b*tch Messi defeated us in the World Cup.” The ex-PSG star further stated that Mbappe’s comment indicated that Messi had alone won the World Cup for Argentina.
Mbappe‘s statement has certainly now put an end to any claims of the 2022 World Cup being rigged for Messi’s Argentina. While there have been certain claims from fans as well as former coaches that several decisions during the World Cup went in Argentina’s favor, Mbappe’s comment has managed to rubbish such claims.
Lionel Messi finally kept his World Cup promise after a long wait of 8 years
While Lionel Messi finally lifted the World Cup trophy in Qatar back in 2022, he agonizingly came close to accomplishing this feat eight years ago. In 2014, Messi led his side to the World Cup final in Brazil, where he faced a dominant Germany. Unfortunately for the 36-year-old, Argentina’s dreams were crushed with Mario Gotze’s late extra-time winner sealed Germany’s victory.
In 2014, before going to the World Cup, Leo Messi has signed a World Cup card for his fan.
Leo wrote on it: “I promise to bring it.” 🏆 pic.twitter.com/0bfE5SNpwn
— All About Argentina 🛎🇦🇷 (@AlbicelesteTalk) March 16, 2024
However, it has been recently revealed that heading into the 2014 World Cup, Messi had made a promise to a fan. The Argentine skipper had written on a fan’s card that he had promised that he would win the World Cup trophy. While Messi was unable to fulfill his promise back then, he certainly did so after eight years, as he ended Argentina’s long wait for the coveted trophy since 1986.
Lionel Messi’s World Cup final loss continues to haunt him
Meanwhile, even winning the 2022 World Cup wasn’t enough to heal Lionel Messi’s wounds from 2014. The Inter Miami star recently sat down for an interview with Adidas alongside French legend Zinedine Zidane. During the interview, the soccer icons spoke at length about various topics. Zidane also asked Messi about whether the latter had any desire of wanting to replay any one particular match from his career.
Messi replied, “The little thorn from the 2014 World Cup final. Although I was able to erase it a little bit with this World Cup, it is still there.” However, the former FC Barcelona star did admit that, despite the World Cup loss still haunting him, he doesn’t regret anything in his career. Lastly, Messi admitted that the World Cup final loss was one of the particular things that helped him grow in his career, which also contained a lot of lucky memories for him.