Lionel Messi There’s almost an expectation of a fairytale ending at this point.
It’s an assumption of a preordain outcome that would see Lionel Messi, almost universally consider the greatest player of this or any other generation. Ride off into the sunset after winning his final international match — not to mention the most covet trophy of them all.
It would be the ultimate mic drop. A deserved and fitting one. The outcome just about everybody — 66 million French citizens excepte — wants to see in Sunday’s World Cup final against defending champion France.
It is no small wonder. Then that Lionel Messi ’s quest to cement his mortality on the biggest stage possible is the main storyline — seemingly the only storyline — heading into the decisive ufabet match.
Yet there’s another storybook ending on the other side that not nearly enough people are talking about.
France, after all, is the World Cup holder and the bookies’ favorite to win the game. If Les Blues do triumph and spoil what is supposed to be Messi’s moment in the process. They will secure their own special place in the annals of the planet’s most popular sport.
Mbappé is so young, and his numbers so gaudy
Mbappé is so young, and his numbers so gaudy. It’s not only reasonable to think he will eventually claim the mantle as the best ever if he stays healthy, it’s inevitable. Hoisting the World Cup for the second time two days before his 24th birthday would only speed Mbappé’s ascent.
It’s not just about Mbappé.
Coach Didier Deschamps and goalkeeper Hugo Lloris also have a chance to make history Sunday. Deschamps — one of two men to win the World Cup as both a captain and coach — now has the chance to become just the third person, after Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo in 1938 and U.S. women’s national team boss Jill Ellis in 2019, to helm more than one World Cup champ. Lloris, meanwhile, would become the first to captain two separate title winners.