Messi’s international story once centred on near misses: the 2014 World Cup final defeat and Copa America losses that briefly prompted him to step away from Argentina. The report says those questions have since been overtaken by a run of major success.
Argentina’s transformation has not been built on Messi carrying every responsibility alone. Lionel Scaloni’s team has found important contributions from:
That wider contribution has strengthened Messi’s captaincy rather than diminished it.
The comparison with Diego Maradona remains unavoidable. Maradona’s leadership was emotional, confrontational and impossible to miss. Messi’s influence has always been quieter, built through excellence and trust.
Luis Romero has described him as a challenge to the idea that leadership must be loud. It is an argument reflected in the way Argentina’s players continue to speak about him: not as a distant superstar, but as the standard everyone wants to match.
His time at Barcelona created a powerful bond, while his spell at Paris St-Germain appeared less connected to the surrounding team. His arrival at Inter Miami brought another form of influence, extending beyond the pitch and reshaping the club’s global profile.
The next chapter will be the 2026 World Cup final. Another triumph would add to Messi’s extraordinary legacy, but the deeper change has already taken place.
Argentina no longer needs him to be Maradona. It needs him to be Messi - and to let the squad run, fight and believe alongside him.