Messi champion, party for those who love football – Director Barigelli’s comment

It was not the World Cup of games, but of the players. Right then that it was he, Leo Messi, who lifted the Cup, the strongest of the last twenty years. He lacked the trophy of trophies to fulfill the mission that an entire people had long since assigned him. When I speak of the entire population I am not referring only to the Argentines, but to the much larger one of football fans. Messi is a genius in any body, indeed in a body that has nothing athletic about it. A Flea, indeed. But in football that physique can be enough if you have the head of an artist and the feet of a god. Messi has converted to football even those who are not interested in football, even those who despise it. It is the miracle of talent, which cuts through any prejudice and reaches anyone’s heart. It is the link with Maradona, however so different from him. Different characters, different lives. But on the football field instead brothers.

Who the biggest? Does it really matter at this point in the story? Rankings are fun, but unfair. Useful for spending an evening, useless if you want to find a grain of truth in it. Maradona was a man against, he would never have played in the team of a Qatari emir. He rather chose Naples and in that desired, confirmed, never betrayed choice, there is pure Diego. Messi doesn’t have that dimension. But only he could bring the World Cup back to Argentina, he did it at the last possible opportunity. His football time is coming to an end, Mbappé’s is announced.

The Frenchman is an absolute phenomenon that you don’t know where to put in the family tree of football’s supreme artists. It resembles no one but itself. And like no one else he interprets football these days. On a remarkable athletic basis (you have to train speed, talent is not enough) Mbappé has added an extraordinary technical sample. He put France back on track twice when all seemed lost. He has scored four goals in a world final, three of which are true from the penalty spot, but that detail doesn’t make the result any less remarkable. His team supported him less than Argentina did with Messi. Lost before starting Benzema, Pogba and Kanté. Lost during yesterday’s match Theo, Giroud and Griezmann. Too much even for Mbappé. France as a whole is worth more than Argentina, they have a better squad: the future belongs to them. He may not even win the next European Championship or the World Cup to come, but it will be difficult not to be a protagonist in one or the other.

It was the most beautiful World Final, at least as far as memory can go or vintage footage can come to the rescue. That it happened to the craziest tournament in its location and most opaque in its attribution confirms that football and sport know how to find the cure for themselves when everything is conspiring against them. We’ve seen a lot, we missed a final at Christmas, but frankly we don’t feel the need for an encore. The next edition will return in the summer, on the other hand it will be played in three countries (Canada, United States, Mexico) and will have 48 teams instead of 32. Just to stay in practice with the oddities.

It’s hard to think that there won’t be Italy. We have become specialists in cheering on other national teams, after two World Cups as spectators. Since 2006 we have collected bad impressions or we have not even introduced ourselves. We have had our fill of justifications, I think they are now exhausted as the patience of the Italians is exhausted. There is a European to be confirmed and a World to be conquered, at least in terms of participation. Let’s go back to being Italy. It’s not too much to ask, but just right.