Lionel Messi: What did Argentina star do to protect him during World Cup win?
Lionel Messi’s relationship with his Argentina teammates has never been better.
At the heart of Argentina‘s trophy drought between 1993 and 2021 was the fact that the national team always leant too much on Messi, so often going through the same old process of passing him the ball at all costs and then simply crossing their fingers.
It did, at times, feel as though Argentina were in a constant state of identity crisis as they worked out how to balance the fact that they had arguably the greatest footballer ever within an otherwise underperforming team.
Can Argentina and Messi win the World Cup?
However, under Lionel Scaloni, things have changed.
There’s now a clear feeling that the players aren’t relying on Messi, they’re helping Messi.
It’s almost as though there’s a collective acknowledgement amongst the Argentina squad that they have a once-in-a-lifetime talent in their midst and it’s in their hands to ensure that they can make the most of that blessing.
And with that very dynamic having been on full display at the 2021 Copa America, fans around the world are now basking in this new-look Argentina at Qatar 2022.
Buy your Lionel Messi t-shirt from the GMS Shop
With Messi allowed to exist in the ether as something of a ghost ready to pounce at any moment, the rest of the Argentina squad operate around him like their own, well-oiled machine.
And it’s served them incredibly well with an emphatic 3-0 win over Croatia booking the South American champions a place in the World Cup final for the second time in eight years.
However, you have to say that the Argentines are looking in much better shape going into the crunch tie than they were back in 2014 when, let’s face it, Germany were the superior outfit.
But if France are going to stand in the way of Argentina’s date with destiny, then they’ll need to cut out this aforementioned philosophy of helping Messi.
2022 World Cup quiz: Can you name these 32 players that starred in Qatar?
What are Argentina doing to protect Messi?
Whether it’s Julian Alvarez creating pockets of space or Rodrigo De Paul literally serving as a bodyguard, the whole Argentina squad is out there to back up Messi whether you like it or not, and they’re more than happy to do it in impolite fashion.
In fact, there were plenty of fine examples of the skipper benefitting from his comrades’ assistance during the Croatia win.
Read more: Lionel Messi’s strategy behind 99.9% unsaveable World Cup penalty vs Croatia
But it’s hard to imagine any of the leg-ups that Messi received being funnier than the way that Leandro Paredes helped to keep one of his typically mazy dribbles going.
That’s because amusing footage of Paredes literally shoulder-barging Ivan Perisic out of Messi’s way as he tries to track down the great man’s fancy dribbling just sums up Argentina to a tee.
And with more than 2,000 retweets and 31,000 ‘likes’ at the time of writing, it’s fair to say that fans have found Argentina’s chaperoning pretty hilarious, so be sure to check it out down below:
Video: Paredes body-guarding Messi during a solo run
Fan reaction
Want to tackle Messi, do you, mate? Sorry, yeah, get out of the way.
You only have to hear the way that the Argentina players speak about Messi to know that they want to fight tooth and nail to deliver that evasive World Cup trophy for him and if that involves barging the opposition out of the way, then so be it.
To keep up to date with all our sports news, sign up to our weekly newsletter.
When is the World Cup final?
Argentina will aim to win the World Cup for the third time in their history when they lock horns with France at 15:00 (GMT) on Sunday, December 18 at the Lusail Iconic Stadium.
In the United Kingdom, the game will be broadcast on both ITV and the BBC.
Check out our 2022 World Cup hub page
You can find all of the latest football news and rumours right here.