renewal with PSG and forward with Argentina (Maradona is no longer scary) – Corriere.it

The next challenge Leo he already has it in his head and it makes you smile when compared to the majesty of the company he has just completed. With the World Cup in hand, while driving the crazy train of Seleccin in the mixed area of ​​Lusail, he thought that it was not yet time to fold, but to enjoy the triumph and chase another record: 100 goals with Argentina’s shirt. With the 7 in Qatar he reached 98, two in the goal.

But he won’t stop even then. The World Cup, which has completed the perfect circle of his career, is changing his perspectives. Argentina is his country, the national team is his team. It would seem obvious, but not the state until some time ago, thanks to the cumbersome ghost of Maradona. And only after much suffering and some misunderstanding took off.

We thought that once he beat France and became the player with the most appearances and minutes in the World Cup, Leo would step aside. A closing in style. Instead, paid the debt with the people, sometimes ungrateful, wants to extend the journey, enjoy this national team which he helped to grow thanks to the strong relationship with Scaloni and seeing the effect that playing with the world champions’ shirt has. I think he’s earned the right to choose what to do. His ten until he wants it, said the technical commissioner destined for a place in history alongside the Argentine holy men, el Flaco Menotti and Carlos Bilardo.

Messi will not make it to the next World Cup, in three and a half years in America, Canada and Mexico, but he won’t immediately greet his companions with whom there is a perfect feeling. We are a team, he said and repeated several times during the tournament. And he governs it, giving it away the quality we haven’t seen since Barcelona and the wisdom of the leader

that never was.

New challenges, we said. At 35, the king doesn’t feel like he’s on the sunset boulevard. The hundred goals in the national team, but also the Champions League to be won with Paris Saint-Germain. The first season in Paris was complicated for a thousand reasons, including the long faces of his wife Antonella who wanted to return to Barcelona. All passed. Put now inside the mechanisms of the team, his relationship with Neymar is very strong, the one with Mbapp is cold but they don’t tease and there is already something. La Pulce wants to win the fifth Champions League. We need to see what Kylian, the real star of the Parco dei Principi, thinks about it.

The new contract, which expires at the end of the season, is also at stake. The Emir Al Thani had already proposed the renewal and now, having seen him take the world, he will return to the fray with a richer offer. Flattered Messi. Until now he has bought his time, but if up to a few months ago he would not have even listened to the proposals, now he is seriously thinking about staying. Barcelona further away. Relations with President Laporta have deteriorated
even if the link with the city and the Catalans is so strong that it would be wrong to rule out a return a priori. Messi had also thought about an experience in the United States, enticed by offers from Inter Miami

, Beckham’s team, which does not want to give up and will raise the economic proposal. Leo could become the highest paid player in the American League. But after the World Cup he understood that the time to abdicate had not yet come. Ronaldo is distant and keeping up with Mbapp, teammate and rival, can be fun.

Now for party time. Tonight, after a technical stop at Fiumicino, the Seleccin landed in Buenos Aires for the crowds and the visit to the Casa Rosada. All lined up behind Messi. No one in Argentina is now wondering if he is better or worse than Maradona. The two phenomena are children of the same glory and can go hand in hand towards eternity.