What keeps Lionel Messi going? Argentina icon chases one final World Cup dream at 38

There is a strange burden that comes with getting everything you ever wanted.For more than 15 years, Lionel Messi carried the weight of expectation on his shoulders. Every goal, every trophy and every dazzling performance was measured against one lingering question: could he do it for Argentina on the biggest stage of all?Then, three-and-a-half years ago, came Qatar.When Messi lifted the World Cup trophy beneath the lights of Lusail Stadium in December 2022, it felt as though football itself could finally exhale. TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say The image instantly became one of the defining sporting moments of the century. Argentina had their third star. Messi, at last, had his masterpiece.The debate that had haunted him throughout his career suddenly felt irrelevant.He had won the World Cup. He had matched Diego Maradona. He had completed football.Yet here he is again.On Tuesday night, Messi will lead Argentina into another World Cup campaign when they face Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium. He will do so at the age of 38, more than two decades after making his professional debut and four years after many believed he had already played his final World Cup match.The obvious question remains: why? After all, there is nothing left to prove.The answer is, however, surprisingly simple.Winning a World Cup makes you immortal. Defending one places you in a category almost nobody has ever reached.Only two nations have successfully retained football's greatest prize. LATEST SPORTS NEWS:Emma Hayes makes immigration comment after Cape Verde stun Spain at World CupEmma Raducanu spotted kissing PR executive hours after Queen's Club final heartbreakHarry Maguire makes England retirement announcement after painful World Cup snubItaly achieved the feat in the 1930s before Brazil's iconic side, inspired by Pele, repeated it in 1958 and 1962. No reigning champion has managed it since.For Messi, that challenge offers a fresh source of motivation.This version of Messi looks very different from the player who carried Argentina through Qatar.Four years ago he played with the urgency of a man who knew time was running out. Every match then felt personal. Every moment carried the weight of a career.Now, with the shackles off, there is a calmness about him.The pressure that once defined his international career has disappeared. The burden of old has simply been replaced by authority.Messi is no longer just Argentina's best player. He has become the figure around which an entire generation revolves.Young stars such as Nicolas Paz and Valentin Barco grew up idolising him. They watched the heartbreak of lost finals, the criticism, the retirement announcements and the eventual redemption.For them, sharing a dressing room with Messi is not normal. It is history unfolding in front of them.That reality has shaped Argentina's approach as tonight's seismic contest creeps closer.Manager Lionel Scaloni understands his captain cannot dominate matches physically in the way he once did. For all his mesmerising magic, time waits for no man.Instead, players such as Rodrigo De Paul, Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez do much of the heavy lifting around him.Their task is simple: create the conditions for Messi to decide games.Because even at 38, some things with arguably the greatest player of all time remain unchanged.His goal in Argentina's final warm-up match against Iceland, achieved from the penalty spot, served as a reminder of that.The acceleration may not be quite the same. The legs require more careful management. But the vision, awareness and devastating left foot remain intact.Messi no longer needs to control a match for 90 minutes. He only needs a moment.A pass nobody else sees. Movement nobody anticipates. A finish nobody else can execute.That is why opponents still fear him and why Argentina still believe.If they can navigate the expanded 48-team tournament and lift the trophy again next month, it will be his crowning moment.Nobody, not even greats like Cristiano Ronaldo, Pele and Diego Maradona, will be able to compare.This is Messi's encore. Victory, at this age, would be his sweetest achievement yet. Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter