Olé (Argentina): “Messi, the greatest of all”
“Glory to God, glory to Messi. Fate, which so often seemed to abandon him mercilessly, gave him the ultimate revenge: a dream World Cup and a dream final. Today Lionel Messi has entered eternity. Today he became the ultimate hero of all who adored him since the beginning and all who have followed since. Today Messi has become the best footballer in history, forgive us Diego.”
“The Argentina national team entered paradise in the dreamed way. With Lionel Messi leading the way. They helped build the legend shaped by Maradona and many others and made it even bigger. Argentina won its third World Cup and now has 22 international titles, two more than Brazil.”
Clarin (Argentina): “Wipe tears off my keyboard”
“Messi had to suffer. Argentina has suffered. But the suffering has stopped. It is over. G*ddamn*mme. Argentina is world champion. No, it’s not a dream. Messi is world champion. And so justice was done. In Qatar. Because when all suffering is over, a poignant finale remains. Dramatic. Unforgettable. Incomparable. With an Mbappé in devil mode, who saved France from a beating with a hat-trick. But Argentina had Messi. Yes, Messi. Now there is no more discussion: he is the best of all time. And Mbappé is his heir. Messi had to travel to the Middle East to crown himself king of the world. After breaking no record, the captain reached his ultimate destination. He had the pleasure of lifting the cup that everyone wants to lift. He’s a legend. I have to wipe the tears off my keyboard to write this.”
La Nacion (Argentina): “You can’t exaggerate when you talk about Messi”
“Messi has conquered his place in eternity. The artist took it off the machine. There are no exaggerations possible when you talk about Messi, on the contrary, everything you say or write about him falls short. No matter how horrifying his statistics are, no matter how beautiful the compilations on Youtube, they do him an injustice. Messi has shaped our lives for the past eighteen years. He always played football for us, the people.”
“In a life, in a career, you only have a few moments when you are on a historic mission. Then you need to know what to do. And Messi knew it. Not just him, the whole team. They have earned eternity. Messi is a World Heritage Site and for many he is even bigger than Argentina itself.”
Tyc Sports (Argentina): “Justice has been done”
“Let’s all shout it out and never stop: Argentina is world champion! And not just any world champion. The world champion of the best final in history. Cry softly, we all cry sweet tears. Not a bitter one like the French wanted us to cry. It could have been a nightmare and at times it was, but it ended up being a nightmare with a happy ending. There is still justice in football, because it would have been a huge injustice if this team, the best at this World Cup, had not become world champions.”
L’Equipe (France): “With your head held high”
“And yet we enter the legend. If guests of honor were at Messi’s coronation Blues heroic. They missed a historic second consecutive world title by inches after a breathtaking final that was at once magnificent and brutal. Mbappé, he too, was great on the day when he was supposed to be great.”
“This was another vale of tears in the great history of French football. We will have to regret this defeat for a while, but what will remain forever are the emotions, the intensity, the feelings, everything that connects us to this team and this historic World Cup.”
Le Monde (France): “This team gave us more than expected”
“France was surrounded by many doubts when they traveled to Qatar, but they return as vice world champions after an epic final. The French lost, but won a little romance. That is rather unexpected. We expected little from this team, but it has given us the best: happiness, emotions and sadness that we will cherish as a precious gift.”
