Rafa on Netflix, magic on the pitch: Lionel Messi’s new World Cup routine

What is the man who won it all doing on the eve of a record sixth World Cup campaign? If you’re Lionel Messi, you fire up Netflix, grab some popcorn (or not) and start the latest Rafael Nadal documentary. While most mortals could use the TV to turn it off completely, football’s greatest wizard was busy taking notes on the art of the eternal warrior.

It turns out a little late at night Rafa binge-watching was just what the doctor ordered. In his 200th appearance for Argentina in their Group J opener against Algeria in Kansas City, Messi looked less like a 38-year-old veteran dealing with pre-tournament injuries and more like a teenager playing with pure, unadulterated joy.

“I’ve loved playing football since I was a kid, and when I feel good like this, I give it my all,” admitted a beaming Messi after his record hat-trick against Algeria.

“I’m watching Rafa Nadal’s documentary; I think we’re very similar in that sense. I want to feel good. If I’m in good shape to do it, I’ll be there.”

Game Orchestration; completely ripped apart the script that said he should take things in stride in North America. Four years after achieving his biggest dream in Qatar, Messi rolled back the years with a breathtaking, match-winning hat-trick to prove his competitive fire burns as fiercely as ever.

Also Read: Should Lionel Messi Have Seen Red vs Algeria? Fans debate the decision

The shape of the performance mattered as much as the number. The opener in the eighth minute was flagged for offside, he didn’t hesitate or force another chance – he waited for it.

In the 17th minute, he collected the ball centrally, flung a couple of challenges and left-footed a left-footed shot past Luca Zidane, yes, Zidane’s son, from the edge of the box for the opener.

The second, in the 60th, was more jarring: Alexis Mac Allister’s long-range shot rebounded in front of the keeper and Messi was first to react, sliding it home with his right foot. The third, sixteen minutes later, was pure spectacle – a give and go with Mac Allister’s left-footed finish, curled behind Zidane’s right hand. His 16th World Cup goal, level with Miroslav Klose’s record, in a record sixth World Cup appearance – 20 years to the day he scored on his World Cup debut against Serbia and Montenegro.

There’s something almost defiant about a man choosing to match Nadal, of all people, at this stage. Not the Nadal of the trophies, but the Nadal who constantly played through a body that stopped fully cooperating and who treated retirement less as an event than a negotiation he refused to rush into.

Messi has nothing to win anymore. He’s not chasing a record, or redemption, or someone’s approval. He’s chasing a feeling and he said so himself. No promise to continue. Just refusing to rule it out.

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Issued by:

Akshay Ramesh

Published on:

17 Jun 2026 11:58 IST