Argentina win 2022 World Cup and Lionel Messi gets the legacy-defining dream ending he deserves

Messi delivered in style as Argentina won their first World Cup since Maradona's magical run 36 years ago

Lionel Messi did not need this. But he did deserve it.

For too long the World Cup has hung over him, more a crushing force than a prize to be embraced. Messi made the impossible into the ordinary. Still, he had to deliver more. He had to deliver that missing piece. He had to scale the heights Diego Maradona had summited in 1986. Thirty-six years on, Messi delivered a fitting tribute to the man he will always be set against, whose parting in 2020 seemed to provide this team with the propulsive force to become champions, first of South America and then the world.

The parallels with their last triumph are staggering. A two-goal lead wrenched from them in a matter of moments, only for their great player to deliver. Messi's greatness absolutely deserves to be seen through its own prism, but make no mistake: He, his teammates, Argentina and the world at large have viewed this tournament through the prism of Maradona.