The Second Lionel: How Scaloni Made Argentina Great Again

Lionel Scaloni was 26 years old when Lionel Messi made his international debut for Argentina. Considered a generational talent, Messi’s debut proved incredible. The modern-day great was sent off 45 seconds after taking on the elbow of Hungarian defender Vilmos Vanczak. Lionel Scaloni protests Lionel Messi’s red card on his debut against Hungary. (Photo by Reuters)

Two players with the same first name – derived from the Greek word Leon (lion) – took two very different paths in their careers. Scaloni, who played in England and Spain before retiring in Italy, is perhaps best known for spilling the ball in West Ham’s FA Cup final against Liverpool.

Minnows West Ham led 3-2 against Liverpool in the 90th minute, well on their way to their first FA Cup title in 26 years. However, their fortunes changed when Scaloni, playing at right-back for West Ham, spilled the ball in extra time. The attack resulted in a shout from Steven Gerrard, the match being sent to extra time and a subsequent penalty.

2005/06 FA Cup Final. West Ham beat Liverpool 3:2 in Cardiff. Minute 88. Lionel Scaloni throws the ball away after Djibril Ciss has stopped due to an alleged injury. Fair play. Ciss continues. Liverpool completes. They will give it back to him, but they will pressure him. Scaloni, pic.twitter.com/eksYY5wZBU— Roberto Parrottino (@rparrottino) July 15, 2026

Broken in spirit after letting a certain win go in 90 minutes, West Ham missed 3 in a shootout and eventually lost to Liverpool. Scaloni’s contract (on loan from Deportivo) at West Ham was not renewed.

It’s a shame, recalled former West Ham manager Alan Pardew, who hails Scaloni as one of the most reliable players he has ever worked with.

“Unfortunately it was the one time I didn’t see Scaloni being effective and calm. I honestly don’t remember him making a mistake before, but it turned out to be a costly affair,” Pardew said in one of his columns years later. Lionel Scaloni is leaving West Ham. (Photo by Reuters)

YET THE SECOND LIONEL

The other Lionel, as everyone knows, became one of the greats of the game. But his career hit a wall in 2018 when Argentina crashed out of the round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup.

Messi entered this year’s FIFA World Cup with the stigma of “national team failure”. Ronaldo has already won the trophy – Euro 2016, while a torn Messi, after it caused some heartbreak a day after losing in the Copa America final that year. Lionel Messi briefly retired from international football in tears in 2016. (Photo Reuters)

Such is the weight of Argentina’s jersey, such is the weight of the legacy left by one of the greatest of all time – Diego Armando Maradona.

“It’s hard, my son keeps watching YouTube and he saw the video. He asked me why they wanted to kill me in Argentina!” Messi later said how the stress of playing Argentina got to him.

That voluntary departure did not last long. Messi made a turnaround a few months later and entered the 2018 World Cup in top form. One hoped that Messi would finish his unfinished business and win the competition.

But fate is cruel.

Jorge Sampaoli’s team had absolutely no cohesion. Messi, Angel Di Maria, Javier Mascherano were cogs so broken that no one knew exactly what their roles were in the team.

Argentina were knocked out by France in the Round of 16 and Messi disappeared again. At the time, many believed that Messi was done with the national team. He was done with his own failures. Lionel Messi reacts after Argentina lost to France at the 2018 World Cup. (Photo by Reuters)

Lionel Scaloni was 40 years old at the time. As assistant coach of the Argentine team, he watched it all before his eyes.

LIONEL SCALONI: THE ACCIDENTAL MANAGER

Failure in 2018 predictably saw Argentina coach Sampaoli sacked. But who would take over? Certainly not Scaloni, still 40 years young and without any credible experience. The Football Federation contacted two Argentine heavyweights – Mauricio Pochettino and Diego Simeone – for the position. Both denied the poisoned chalice.

AFA had absolutely no choice and handed the role to the 40-year-old.

The task was made for Scaloni. The first, and perhaps most important, was to convince Lionel Messi to return. To fall in love with international football again.

Scaloni took a personal route. One of his assistants was Pablo Aimar, Messi’s childhood idol. Along with Aimar and Walter Samuel, another trusted former international, Scaloni approached Messi and presented him with a vision of a younger, hungrier Argentina with him still at the centre. Lionel Messi and Pablo Aimar at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. (Photo by Reuters)

The message worked. Messi is back.

It took time for the national team to click. Scaloni knew he had the greatest of this generation in his hands, but how could he unlock it? Something that Maradona, Tata Martino and his predecessor Sampaoli could not do.

SCALONI RE-ENGINEERS ARGENTINA

After the opening series of games, Scaloni figured out what was bothering Argentina. He realized that the pace of football had to be different. Instead of using Messi’s ballistic bursts to attack quickly, he had to slow him down and ask him to scan the pitch more than take control of the ball and dribble through the team.

The movement clicked.

Lionel Messi became the heart of a team that was willing to run around him and protect him at all costs.

: In the 2022 World Cup quarter-final against the Netherlands, Lionel Messi received the ball, spotted Molina running up and produced a perfectly balanced pass to weave the ball straight through Ako’s legs. Molina ran in and scored to give Argentina the lead.

VIDEO pic.twitter.com/QkA09z0mpA— Culers Pro (@CulersPro) July 1, 2026

The key to building such trust was interpersonal relationships.

Along with Aimar and Samuel, he created an environment where the players enjoyed representing Argentina again. The coaching staff believed that togetherness mattered as much as formations. Long talks, meals together and unity in the locker room became as important as tactical meetings.

Rodrigo De Paul would later sum up the philosophy best: “Make the man better to make the game better.”

It reached its defining moment in Rio de Janeiro in 2021, just one year before the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Ahead of the Copa America final against Neymar’s Brazil, the otherwise shy Lionel Messi gave a fiery dressing room speech to the rest of the squad.

“For 45 days, no complaints about food, hotels, playgrounds. Nothing, boys. Forty-five days without seeing our families. Forty-five days! Dibu became a father and couldn’t see his daughter. He couldn’t hold her. And because of all this? Because of this. For this moment.”

Argentina won that match. Lionel Messi’s first international title after failing in four separate competitions.

After that night, things changed. The burden disappeared. The fear is gone. Argentina no longer looked like the team hoping to be saved by Messi. Instead, they became a team determined to win it for him.

A juggernaut was born that day. Since that victory in 2021, Argentina have won the FIFA World Cup and Finalissma in 2022 and the Copa America in 2024, clinching every single competition they have played in. Lionel Messi finished football in 2022. (Photo Reuters)

THE ARGENTINE GUARD

Between trophies, Scaloni emphasized interpersonal relationships again and again. He often resisted discussions about formations, insisting that football was as much about feelings as it was about systems. That belief carried Argentina through the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, recovering from a shock opening defeat to Saudi Arabia before lifting the trophy after one of the greatest finals in football history.

After losing the opening game, Scaloni famously said, “Don’t worry. The sun will rise again.”

Scaloni’s coaching style is based on a simple method. That maybe it’s more important to put an arm around the shoulders of a long tournament than to spout tactical nuances at players who are already injured. Lionel Scaloni transformed Argentina with care. (Photo by Reuters)

Perhaps he felt he needed the same at West Ham when his first mistake of the season collapsed their title dreams.

Perhaps he felt the same for Lionel Messi in 2005 and in 2018 when he walked off the pitch with his head down in two very different circumstances.

The Argentines are now back in the finals. If they win on Sunday, they will become only the third team to defend their FIFA World Cup trophy. But regardless of the result, Lionel Scaloni will remain the first and only coach to develop Lionel Messi’s full potential.

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– The end

Issued by:

Kingshuk Kusari

Published on:

18 Jul 2026 05:01 IST