The leader Messi: Maradona’s new record that he surpassed in Argentina vs. Netherlands

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa meant for Lionel Messi, already a consecrated star and on his way to being the best of the season, his second major tournament. With Diego Armando Maradona as coach, La Pulga was captain for the first time without imagining that twelve years later, in Qatar 2022, he would surpass Pelusa as the Argentine with the most captaincies (17) in the World Cups in the duel against the Netherlands for the quarterfinals.

But let’s relive the anecdote with Diego who made him captain almost accidentally. In the third match of the group stage of the tournament, Argentina faced Greece. With the classification under his arm, the heavyweights of the team -Verón, Mascherano and Heinze- told Maradona that Leo had to be a substitute. At that time, the man from Rosario had not scored a goal against Nigeria or against South Korea, which is why they asked him to be on the bench.

With more doubts than answers, Maradona accepted the request of his boys, but left a slot open for a possibility that he had been considering. When the time comes, ‘Pelusa’ tells Messi, under the pretext of the rotations, that he is going to rest against Greece. The ‘Flea’, who was forced to speak, replied “no”, that he was fine and to please let him play. With more plea than command in Messi’s voice, Maradona faced him again and said: “Well, ok… Now you’re going to be the captain!”

The days after that moment were an ordeal for Lionel, recalls Juan Sebastián Verón in the book by the chronicler Leonardo Faccio. “Messi, the boy who was always late (and today is the first)”. The ‘Little Witch’, who shared a room with Messi, was hurt by the coach’s decision, as he understood that he should be the captain in what would be his last World Cup. And Messi, resorting only to him to know how to face the moment of the pre-match harangue, sought him out with questions; but he only found vague answers like: “say what you feel and at that moment everything falls into place”.

Perhaps without understanding all the emotional and social load that was lived at that time, since the last Argentine ’10’ to wear the captain’s armband had been Maradona and, beautiful coincidences in life, it was also against Greece in a World Cup, Messi had more problems off the pitch than on it. Accustomed to dribbling defenders, this responsibility could not be dribbled.

At the time of the harangue, Messi started making a joke and then got stuck, recalls Professor Fernando Signorini. “We ended up helping him out a bit among all of us. I think he lived that moment as if it had been an attack, ”said the professional. With the noise of the voices of encouragement, the moment was saved and Argentina beat Greece 2-0. Messi was 22 years old and had become the youngest captain of the Albiceleste.

Today, already 35, Messi is the leader of a generation that mostly grew up watching him, enjoying him… idolizing him. He stopped being the soccer captain who guided everyone from his soccer to be the captain who also knows how to harangue, as he did in the run-up to the 2021 Copa América final against Brazil and which was seen by the whole world in the documentary “Be eternal ”.

Messi, above all

Lionel Messi reached 17 captaincies, equaling Rafael Márquez, although the case of the Mexican is particular. And it is that the center-back is told about the two games that the tape took in replacement of Andrés Guardado in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Behind Leo are Maradona (16), the Italian Dino Zoff (14), the French Hugo Lloris (14) -he will surely continue adding with his team- and Cristiano Ronaldo (14).

Cristiano started Portugal’s first games in Qatar 2022, but in the last one, for the round of 16, he was replaced by Goncalo Ramos, the ‘9’ from Benfica who dazzled the world with an incredible hat-trick.

—-