Succession, conquest, coup: King Messi’s final test

Nine years ago, Lionel Messi offered his throne at Barcelona to another player, but the offer was declined.

Four years back, he nearly stumbled in the final step before his coronation as world champion, but prevailed by the barest of margins.

And now, in the early hours of Monday (Bangladesh time), the 39-year-old is just one win away from achieving what his idol Diego Maradona failed to do – win back-to-back world titles for Argentina.

Standing in his way is a team that bleeds Blaugrana, is molded by La Masia and embodies the spirit of Barcelona, just like Messi.

Every great king is eventually dethroned — through succession, conquest, or coup.

After a failed succession, a thwarted conquest, Messi now faces a La Masia coup, led by the 19-year-old Lamine Yamal, who wants to usurp his world champion crown in New Jersey, ironically, the same place where Messi once offered his throne to another and was refused.

Failed succession

“What do you want? You want to be a Ballon d’Or winner? I'll make you a Ballon d’Or winner.”

On July 21, 2017, Messi was in New Jersey with the Barcelona side for a pre-season friendly against Juventus, set to take place the next day.

The night before the match, he, alongside two of his teammates, was at the Sheraton Parsippany Hotel in the city, having an important conversation.

Messi and Luis Suarez, were trying to persuade Neymar – the third member of their ‘MSN’ triumvirate – not to leave Barcelona for PSG.

According to Spanish reporter Ivan San Antonio for ‘Sport’, Messi had even offered to take up a more secondary role in the next season, hand Neymar more of the spotlight and help him win the Ballon d’Or.

Messi was true to his words the next day, as he played in a deeper position on the field, allowed Neymar to run the show up front, as the Brazilian scored twice in Barcelona’s 2-1 win over the Italian side.

But his efforts had no effect as Neymar eventually signed for the French side for a transfer fee of €222 million, which was a world record at the time.  

What happened next is already well documented. Neymar never rose to the heights he wanted to reach, as injuries plagued his body.

He could never win another Champions League title, failed to win the Ballon d’Or and has not won a title for Brazil since.

The duo, however, reunited at PSG in 2021, after Barcelona had to let go of Messi under a severe financial crisis.

At the French capital, he formed another attacking trio, this time with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

Thwarted conquest

Mbappe had already won the World Cup, in Russia in 2018, that too at just 19 years of age.

And when Messi finally was a whisker away from winning his maiden world title, it was Mbappe who stood as his main adversary.

In the final, Argentina were 2-0 up at the 79th minute, counting down the seconds before lifting their third world title, when Mbappe sprung into action.

The forward first converted a penalty to halve the lead, and then just 97 seconds later, tied the game with a second goal.

In extra time, Messi gave Argentina the lead, but Mbappe again countered, converting his second penalty of the match to take the tie into a penalty shootout.

In the shootout, Mbappe set the tone by finding the back of the net for the fourth time in the match.

In a match of one-upmanship, Messi had the final say as he also converted Argentina’s first penalty, just rolling the ball past Hugo Lloris to draw them level.

Eventually, it was the heroics of Argentina’s goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez that earned them the world title.

Even though Messi won and Mbappe lost, most considered it as the passing of the torch moment.

Messi, who was already 35 in Qatar, had surely played in his final World Cup, they assumed incorrectly.

At 39, Messi returned to defend his world title in 2026. Mbappe, now playing for Real Madrid, could not go past semifinal for the first time in a World Cup, while Messi and Co. have punched their ticket to a consecutive final.

With his brace in the third-place decider match against England, which France lost 6-4, Mbappe finished with 10 goals in the tournament, two more than Messi, while both have four assists.

But Messi still has a match in hand, where he can catch up with Mbappe and clinch his second world title.

The only team that can stop Argentina is Spain, a place for many years Messi called his home.

La Masia coup

At 13, Messi left Argentina and joined La Masia academy in Barcelona, Spain, a decision that has shaped the rest of his career and life.

From an Argentine prodigy, Barcelona molded him into the all-time great he is now. Not even his unfortunate departure could taint that bond.

And in the final, he will come across a squad that has eight players who play for his beloved club, eight members who have come up from La Masia, just like him, and the most notable of the group is Lamine Yamal.

Compared to Messi, Yamal has had a quiet World Cup, scoring just one goal and yet to make an assist.

Still, returning from an injury, the 19-year-old has looked better in every appearance and continues to be a menace down the right wing, attracting defenders and creating space for the other Spanish players to exploit.

By now, the 2007 photo of Messi and a six-month-old Yamal is public knowledge, an image that creates a sense of destiny attached to this fixture, as if the universe had already predetermined Yamal as Messi’s successor.

At just 19, Yamal has already become the main man of Barcelona – something that even Messi needed a few more years to achieve.

If Yamal dethrones Messi, it would be a full-circle moment: the boy from Rosario who learnt the craft at Barcelona became an Argentine messiah, losing his final great battle against a teenager born to immigrant parents, and trained at the same La Masia academy as he did.

Such a loss, to a Spanish side heavily influenced by his alma mater, orchestrated by players who grew up idolising him, would be a coup of sorts — one done not with malice, but with the desire to surpass an idol.

However, Messi and Argentina’s entire World Cup campaign has been built on their refusal to give up, as faced with dire circumstances, they always rage into the dying light, and somehow come out the other side victorious.

No matter the result, Messi and his team is bound to play the same way, and if Yamal and Co. fail to contend with that, Messi might leave the grandest stage still wearing the crown.