Today is 365Scores birthday and the results are in!
In the final of our 10 day bracket, which included the best number 10s in the 2022 World Cup it came down to just Neymar and Lionel Messi
You voted Lionel Messi as the best number 10 playing in this years world cup, with Messi winning 81% of the vote over Neymar.
There is an argument that Messi is the greatest player of all time, and all he is missing in his honours is the World Cup. that would surely confirm this title.
Lionel Messi has had a great international career, alongside an unbelievably decorated playing career. He is a 7 time Ballon d’Or winner, more than any player in history. He also has 4 Champions League’s and 10 La Liga titles. Whilst also captaining the Argentinian side, he is the most capped Argentina national team player ever, having made 164 appearances, scoring 90 goals and assisting 50. Messi has a Copa America to his name having won it in 2021, an Olympic Gold medal and a Finalissima. Individually with Argentina he is a 5 time Copa America top scorer, and he won the Golden Ball at the 2014 World Cup
After the Qatar World Cup, Messi will have competed in 5 World Cup tournaments, the joint most. In 2006 he debuted and scored a goal in his first match, but Argentina were knocked out in the quarter finals on penalties. In 2010 Messi had a very quiet tournament, playing all the matches but not scoring once as he lost in the quarter finals. The 2018 World Cup, Argentina lost to the tournaments winners France in the first knockout round, despite Messi performing extremely well. The 2014 finals was Messi’s tournament however, where he came agonisingly close to taking the trophy home to Buenos Aires. He’d had an unbelievable tournament up to the final scoring 4 goals and already confirmed to win the Golden Ball, but fell short at the final hurdle. With this years World Cup being his last ever, no one in the world has more motivation to take the trophy home than Lionel Messi.
Messi is an outstanding playmaker. He’s a predominantly left-footed player whose dribbling ability is insane, probably best of all time. With an exceptional passing ability and vision to find teammates in space with his precision passes, he likes to play with the ball and dictate the tempo of the game. When it comes to taking free kicks Messi has mastered the skill. With just the right amount of pace and strength, Messi can accurately curve the ball over the wall into a top corner of the net.
Messi has cemented his role as a playmaker capable of scoring many goals. and now has a number 10. The fact that he can succeed as a playmaker and lead the scoring chart as well just shows how good the Barcelona forward is. He has been compared to only two other players in history: Pele and Maradona.
If there’s any Argentina squad during Messi’s career that could win a World Cup, it may just be this one.
Very few teams have a more lethal starting front three than Argentina’s of Messi alongside Lautaro Martinez and Angel Di Maria. The midfield has a great mix of attacking minded, but also defensive players, with Rodrigo De Paul slotting in well alongside Leandro Paredes. The defence is the same experienced one that guided Argentina to a Copa America in 2021. And in goal, Emi Martínez has been excellent in an Argentina shirt.
Argentina are in Group C, and they should progress without much trouble. They are likely to have little trouble with Saudi Arabia, and while Poland and Mexico both have some great players neither should truly threaten this side for top in the group.
The Copa América success removed all the doubts that have hung around a proud footballing nation for more than two decades, so a World Cup coming to Argentina is very much on the cards
