No. They are not Thiago and Matthew. They are very similar to the Paris Saint-Germain jerseys with the number 30 and the name “Messi” on the back. It was two o’clock in the afternoon in Bilbao and these two children were standing in front of the door of the hotel where the Argentine National Team was staying while preparing for the Wembley Finalissima. They do not lose the illusion of seeing their idol. But Lionel will not come out. It’s siesta time and later he will leave for Lezama, at the Athletic venue, to train with his teammates under the command of Lionel Scaloni.

The children, wearing Messi from PSG, left at their mother’s call, waiting for them in the middle of the block. They never achieved the dream of recognizing the best footballer in the world, but they will certainly continue to follow their careers in French football and on the light blue and white team. Where is this Messi playing who ended a season in which he added his 39th title, although on a level that for various reasons and passing covid was not as expected.

However, Rosario has already turned the page and is thinking of starting another year of football, which will never be another: the World Cup awaits him. And so is revenge in the Champions League, after the last defeat against Real Madrid, the new champion.

What will be Leo’s main focus? The countdown has already begun in Qatar. And this tour in the Basque Country and London marked the starting point of his preparation, which includes these matches with the National Team (against Italy on Wednesday and possibly against Estonia in Week 5 (at a stadium to confirm, it can be in Osasuna), but also meetings at his club where will continue to share the lead role with Kylian Mbappéwho finally decided to renew his contract.

If the Frenchman went into Spanish football, La Pulga would be the recipient of all the spotlight at the Parc des Princes. There is no doubt that he will be the real symbol, beyond Neymar’s heavy presence (are the rumors that speak of a request from Mbappé to sell the Brazilian true?). But the French star, world champion in Russia, has signed on to continue.

Far from hindering him, they said it was good for Messi. And there are two reasons. Before leaving Barcelona, ​​the Argentine has reiterated many times that he needs to have a competitive team and a great sporting project to fight for the Champions League, his desire at club level. Well, following that logic, Mbappé’s continuity ensures that he has on his team one of the players with the highest global level today and enriches the team. In addition, it allows him to not have to be one to absorb all the pressure of having to guide PSG to the denied title. Big ears.

Lionel decided to fulfill his bond in France. And in the middle, Kylian Mbappé’s renewal will somehow help him focus on going to the top of a World Cup for the first time as a leader and full-fledged reference for Argentina.

In the Bronnitsy bunker, Messi relied more on Javier Mascherano’s experience. But earlier masche he retired, first from the National Team and then from football, and on the 10th he took the helm of a ship made up of new waste generated by Scaloniwho knows how to surround him with a compact group that understands him on and off the field.

Messi has seriously worn a guide suit in recent years. And, in addition to the main presence of Angel Di María or Nicolás Otamendi -the other survivors of old guard-, he is the beacon that gives light where to go. And so he will arrive in Doha in November, with the responsibility that he has not been in his past four World Cups.

Messi grows from the World Cup to the World Cup. From that little kid who ended up watching the elimination against Germany sitting outside with a sad face in 2006 without getting in, going through disappointment in 2010 on German lands, the cut dream in Brazil in 2014 and the failure with a thick indoor climate in Russia in 2018, in this new era full of renewed hope. In addition to that due to a matter of age he may have been in the presence of his last chance at the World Cup.

“After the World Cup, I’ll think about a few things again,” he said of Argentina’s farewell to Bombonera. And he sowed versions about his future with the albiceleste group. Will he leave the National Team? Will it last any longer? Will he play another World Cup, at the age of 39? Questions that perhaps even Lionel himself cannot answer at present.

Meanwhile, he is training with the national delegation here, in northern Spain. And he thinks of Italy, to win and celebrate another Cup. And he’s committed to a new season that will mark the weeks, days and hours of the final countdown to a World Cup that excites him, as if he’s one of those two little ones. children They find him shirtless at the hotel reception.