Messi led Argentina to 3-0 win over Croatia in their semi-final Tuesday and will earn 172nd cap at the weekend when he tries to bring them their first World Cup title since 1986.
Ahead of the semi-final clash, Croatia striker Bruno Petkovic said 'Argentina are not only Messi' and that they have to stop the entire Argentina team.
In Qatar, on Messi's fifth and final quest, he has been the beating heart of the squad and Argentina appear to have as good a chance as any to lift the trophy on 18 December.
Starting his fifth World Cup, Lionel Messi had opened the scoring with a 10th-minute penalty and Argentina had three goals disallowed for offside in a free-flowing first half.
Saudi Arabia, 2nd-lowest ranked team in tournament after Ghana, threw caution to the wind at the start of second half, charging at Argentina's defence in front of a frenzied crowd.
Argentina won the 2021 Copa America but despite always being one of the World Cup favourites they have not lifted football's most precious trophy in the last 36 years.
Edtech firm Byju’s engagement with Messi will enhance the firm's visibility overseas as football has roughly 3.5 billion fans worldwide, and the Argentine has nearly 450 million social media followers.
Messi is the sole surviving member from that starting lineup at the Maracana Stadium. But this time he has the support of a squad built by Scaloni to win not just matches, but titles.
By Rohith Nair (Reuters) - Lionel Messi has won nearly 40 trophies for club and country in an illustrious career but the Argentine forward's glittering resume has one major omission -- a World Cup
'In a World Cup, anything can happen. All the matches are very tough. The favourites don't always end up winning,' said Messi, 35, who will be playing in his fifth World Cup.
Even as India, Pakistan have seemed on the edge of war, their intelligence services have often sought to find space to de-escalate tensions and reduce risks for the two countries.
Speaking at 2nd Investor Connect, CM Vishnu Deo Sai says 'we have been able to attract a lot of investors.' The focus of the event was the steel sector.
Not only did S-400 record its longest hit during India-Pakistan 88-hour conflict, ability of the system to shoot and scoot in a short time, which allows it to evade enemy fire, was also proved.
It is a brilliant, reasonably priced, and mostly homemade aircraft with a stellar safety record; only two crashes in 24 years since its first flight. But its crash is a moment of introspection.
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