Lionel Messi Calls Out 'Magic' as He Poses With 2022 FIFA World Cup Trophy
Argentina captain Lionel Messi post picture with FIFA World Cup trophy on his Instagram
Argentina captain led his team to World Cup glory on December 18, 2022 when the team defeated France on penalties in an edge of the seat finale in Qatar. Ever since winning the trophy, the team has been receiving praises from all across the globe. However, soon after the World Cup win, Messi returned to French Club Paris Saint Germain to resume club duties. But the magic of winning the big one hasn’t left Messi as on Saturday (January 7), he posted a photo of himself and his Argentine teammates with the World Cup trophy.
“How are they going to convince me that magic doesn’t exist?," Messi captioned the photo.
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A few days back, Messi was also awarded with the ‘Champions of Champions’ award, presented to the best athlete of the year by French publication L’Equipe, for his performances with Argentina.
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The award has been in existence since 1946 and open to athletes outside of France since 1975. The recipient is chosen by the staff of the magazine but very stringent judgment is made while choosing the player. It is to be noted that this year the top two contenders for the award were both from football.
Apart from them, tennis player Rafael Nadal, who had a double Grand Slam winning season, cyclist Remco Evenepoel, and two-time reigning Formula One champion Max Verstappen were also in the top five. However, Messi won the award by a huge margin of 808 points.
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It is to be noted that Messi is only the fourth footballer to clinch the award. Before him, his countryman Diego Maradona (1986), Paolo Rossi (1982), Romario (1994), and Zinedine Zidane (1998) had also received it for their achievements. The most interesting similarity among all the four recipients is – each of them led their respective countries to World Cup glory that year.
After the World Cup win, Messi has been quite expressive in terms of sharing his feelings on social media. He had earlier shared a post wherein he thanked his family for always being with him and supporting him.
Messi has now arrived at the PSG training ground and a guard of honour was given to him on Wednesday (January 6). He was handed a trophy by sporting director Luis Campos and was also applauded onto the training pitch.
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