Is Lionel Messi Really 39? Ageless, tireless and still the best conductor in football
Age catches footballers differently.
Some lose a yard of pace. Others realize that the body no longer keeps the same promises it once did. For most, this is where greatness begins to fade.
Lionel Messi has spent the last few years adapting before football could force him to.
As the final whistle blew around Atlanta, The 39-year-old fell to his knees before his teammates rushed to him. It was a familiar image in an unfamiliar way. Football gave Messi almost everything there was to win, yet another World Cup semi-final drained him emotionally.
England vs Argentina, FIFA World Cup 2026: Highlighting
Messi was overcome with emotion at full time. (Photo: Reuters)
Four years after finishing football in Qatar, after eight Ballon d’Ors, countless trophies and virtually every individual honor imaginable, Messi still looked like a man who had just experienced something completely new.
England deserved huge credit for how they handled him before the break. Thomas Tuchel resisted the temptation to assign a traditional man-marker, instead asking Elliot Anderson to stay close enough whenever Messi drifted in, while Jude Bellingham and Declan Rice squeezed the space around him. Argentina still enjoyed plenty of possession, but very little of it was in areas where Messi usually dictates games. He barely managed a meaningful effort on goal at half-time and England looked increasingly confident they had found a way to keep him at arm’s length.
That feeling was heightened when Anthony Gordon swept home Morgan Rogers’ cross for Emiliano Martinez just after the restart. England were leading, Argentina suddenly had a problem to solve and Messi was still not imposing himself on the game as everyone expected before kick-off.
HOW MESI CHANGED THE GAME
For almost an hour, England had every reason to believe their plan was working. Messi was kept away from the areas where he usually does the most damage, Argentina struggled to create anything truly remarkable and Tuchel’s side looked increasingly comfortable as the game unfolded on their terms.
Anthony Gordon’s goal only added to that feeling.
England finally found a breakthrough, but protecting it was slowly becoming a different challenge altogether. Instead of continuing to press high, they dropped back a few yards, closing the gaps between the lines and inviting Argentina to have more of the ball.
That’s a gamble you don’t make in front of someone with football intelligence like Messi, and he noticed almost immediately.
Rather than continuing to wander into the congested central areas where Anderson, Rice and Bellingham spent an hour closing him down, he moved more to the right touchline and started asking England various questions. Each time he collected possessions, another white shirt came out to meet him. Each time this happened, another pocket opened somewhere else. Messi’s shift in style of play completely pushed England out of the game. (Photo: Reuters)
Argentina just kept coming.
Crosses were becoming more frequent and even more so after De Paul came on, passing was sharper and England found themselves deeper in defense than at any stage of the evening. Jordan Pickford organized bodies in his six-yard box far more often than he would have liked, while Messi saw more and more of the ball. He touched it 94 times at full-time, more than enough to leave his mark on virtually every meaningful Argentine attack.
Then came the equaliser, a well-deserved reward for the Argentinian No.10’s ruthless substitution.
Messi won possession on the right and resisted the temptation to force an early cross into the area. He waited. The English midfield shot through. Then came a pass to Enzo Fernandez, perfectly weighted into space on the edge of the box. Fernandez still had work to do, finishing behind Pickford, but the opening was created long before the shot was fired.
Messi never found the net himself. His expected goals barely hit 0.01, an almost unheard of number for a player who arrived in Atlanta as the tournament’s top scorer. Yet the stats that mattered were elsewhere. He created four chances, two of them clear, and each one seemed to take England one step closer to their own penalty area.
By then, even his dribbling looked different.
There were times when Messi dribbled to beat defenders. Against England he dribbled to move them. Nine successful dribbles from 11 attempts was less about dazzling with his feet and more about creating angles, buying another second and opening up another passing lane. It was football played at his pace rather than England’s.
That patience decided the match.
Deep into stoppage time, with extra time looming, Messi somehow stretched to keep the ball alive before lifting a teasing cross to the far post. Lautaro Martinez did the rest, but like most of Argentina’s night, the move started with Messi seeing an opportunity that no one else saw quickly enough.
Now breaking down what is called football IQ, this performance from the 39-year-old could easily be your top 5 example.
His legs no longer allow him to dominate every minute of every match, so he is incredibly selective about when to pick up the pace and when to slow down. Now it’s not so much about beating defenders as it is about manipulating them, moving opponents into positions they don’t even realize they’ve wandered into until the decisive pass finally arrives.
He finished the night without adding to his eight goals this World Cup.
He hardly needed it.
THE ART OF ADAPTATION
The version of Lionel Messi in Argentina’s top ten today bears little resemblance to the teenager who first came into his own at Barcelona, or even the relentless marksman who once found the net 91 times in a calendar year.
Back then, football revolved around his acceleration. The defenders knew what was coming and still couldn’t stop the impossible dribbles, slalom runs and breathtaking goals.
But father time eventually catches up with every footballer. Messi is not every footballer.
As the explosive run became more selective, his understanding of the game became even sharper. Somewhere in the past few years, arguably one of the greatest shooters of his era has quietly become its greatest orchestrator.
This development has become one of Argentina’s greatest strengths. Lionel Scaloni no longer asks Messi to carry every attack from start to finish. Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo De Paul and Julian Alvarez take much of the running, allowing their captain to conserve energy before deciding exactly when to speed up and when to slow down the game.
Wednesday night was another master class in this restraint.
Messi went all 120 minutes without looking like the busiest player on the pitch. However, when the decisive moments came, he was involved in both. The two assists took his World Cup tally to a record 12 along with 21 goals in six tournaments, numbers that only begin to explain the impact he continues to have on football’s biggest stage.
MORE MORE MORE, LEO
The reward for the next masterclass is the biggest test of all.
Spain await in Sunday’s final, which will bring together the tournament’s most complete side and a player who has spent two decades redefining greatness.
It’s a fascinating passing of the torch. The man who defined Barcelona for a generation now stands between Spain’s rising stars and football’s biggest prize.
For almost two decades, Messi was Barcelona. On Sunday, he will face the club’s new flag-bearers Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi and Dani Olmo, three players who will take Spanish football into its next era as the man who inspired so many continues to shape the present. Will Messi lead Argentina to back-to-back World Cup titles? (Photo: Reuters)
If England proved anything in Atlanta, it’s that keeping Messi quiet for an hour is no guarantee of surviving the other 30. He no longer bends the game to his will with ruthless dribbling or explosive bursts of pace. Instead, he waits, watches, and when the moment comes, quietly tilts the contest in Argentina’s favor.
Can the Spanish midfielder do it? Can Rodri, Pedri or maybe Fabian Ruiz have what it takes to stop him? History suggests that this is often easier said than done.
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– The end
Issued by:
Debodinna Chakraborty
Published on:
Jul 16, 2026 06:07 IST