After finally winning the World Cup, Lionel Messi made his strongest case yet to be considered soccer's greatest men's player of all time.
It will never be possible to say definitively, though, even after Argentina's 4-2 penalty shootout victory over France on Sunday in the final at Lusail Stadium.
And for the past 15 years or so, Messi has had a personal rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo just to establish himself as the finest player of his generation. Messi is a seven-time winner of the Ballon d'Or award for the best player in the world and lifted club soccer's biggest prize, the Champions League trophy, on four occasions. He ended his wait for a first major trophy with his country at last year's Copa America.
Messi does not dominate over 90 minutes anymore, but instead decides matches with moments of genius. He scored seven goals in Qatar, but, arguably, his assists have been more memorable. Messi has now scored a national team-record 98 goals in 172 games. That places him third in the all-time scoring list for men's internationals, behind Cristiano Ronaldo and Ali Daei .
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