It's a well-worn path, calling Lionel Messi a freak. He's been called otherworldly more times than anyone could count. Saying he's unmatched—the best of his era, maybe the best ever—stopped being an original thought about 15 years ago. But just because it's not new ground doesn't make it untrue.
What Messi did against Austria in Argentina's 2-0 win would be, for virtually anyone else, a career-defining performance—the kind of game that gets you a big summer move, a bigger club, the whole machinery of pressure and expectation.
But Messi, at 39, is past all that. He's at Inter Miami in MLS now, winning almost out of habit. He already has the World Cup—the 2022 title in Qatar the crowning achievement of a nearly perfect career, and one of the things that separates him from Cristiano Ronaldo in the argument people will never stop having. He could have stayed home, shown up to support Argentina from a box, Suárez-style. He could have just appeared at brand events, signed mementos, and have been celebrated. There is nothing left to prove.
But he's here. And he's still that guy—the 5-foot-7 wizard in cleats, the man defenders throw their hands up at because no one has an answer for the way he places the ball. He made history in Dallas, too, passing Germany's Miroslav Klose to become the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.
He missed a penalty early that would have tied the record. Argentina seemed rattled, almost unsure of what had just happened. Then it fell into place. Argentina pushes on the break, Austria inexplicably leaves Messi unmarked, and he slides into the box—cool as can be, one touch with his left foot, goal. Alexander Schlager, the Austrian goalkeeper, was dead before the ball even landed.
This is what Messi does. Five goals at this World Cup already.
His second—his 18th World Cup goal and counting—might have been even better. He drove the ball up the right wing and whipped in a looping cross to Julián Álvarez. Álvarez's shot was saved. The ball bounced back and Messi was right there, in front of the net, and whacked it through traffic as he fell down. The shot came so quick and precise that Kevin Danso didn't even move his leg to try to block it until after the ball hit the net. All the Austrians could do was yell in frustration and collapse to the ground as the Argentinians mobbed Messi.
Then, because he's Messi, he came on as a sub against Jordan three days after his 39th birthday and scored a free kick—whizzed it past the wall into the left corner, where Jordanian keeper Yazeed Abulaila could only drop to his knees and throw his hands up as the ball hit the net. (Also: his 19th World Cup goal.)
This is just what Messi does. And because his GOAT case apparently needed more padding—it doesn't—he became the first man ever to score in seven straight World Cup games. He was already living in rarefied air: only two other players, France's Just Fontaine and Brazil's Jairzinho, had ever scored in six straight.
Argentina could repeat. (Another entry in the Messi GOAT file: there hasn't been a repeat champion since Brazil did it in 1958 and 1962 with a teenager named Pelé. Pelé was 17 in '58, 21 in '62. Messi was, by soccer standards, washed when he won in 2022. He is, by any standard, more washed now.) The path to the semis is soft—it starts with tournament darling Cabo Verde. Colombia is the only team in the way that scares anybody. From there, would you be shocked if he beat England or Brazil or France (again) or Spain or anyone else who makes it that far?
Photo by Perry Hall
This won't last forever. This is almost certainly his last World Cup. His record probably won't hold—France's Kylian Mbappé, at 27, already has 16 World Cup goals and will likely pass Messi within another World Cup. Messi himself was reminded that time rolls on. After he scored three in Argentina's opener, he was in tears because of "some tough days." It was later confirmed to be about his father and longtime manager, Jorge, undergoing treatment for an undisclosed medical issue.
His dad is getting older. He's getting older. He doesn't run around the pitch like he used to. He has teammates who were born around when he started his pro career. He'd surely tell you he's not who he was in 2011-12, when he scored 73 goals in 60 games for Barcelona, or in 2014-15, when he scored 58 in 57 and won the treble. Or any of the eight times he's won the Ballon d'Or.
But maybe that's exactly why every cliché still works—that he's a god among men, an alien, a one of one. He's not at his peak. He's never been more like everyone else on Earth. Then he scores two against Austria, a free kick against Jordan, and whatever's still to come—and makes you wonder how he and the rest of us could possibly be from the same planet.