Sports

Lionel Messi a win away from joining all-time soccer greats

Lionel Messi is one win from immortality.

With a victory in Sunday’s World Cup final against Germany in Rio de Janeiro, the Argentine superstar will join the Mount Rushmore of soccer, on the short list of players worthy of the title GOAT: Greatest of All Time.

Pele. Maradona. Messi.

Throughout this World Cup, Messi hasn’t always been the most dominant player on the field, but he has been the most dangerous.

He has been hounded, harassed and seemingly hemmed in … until he pops up at the most crucial times to score the most critical goals. Like against Iran, when they defended perfectly until the final minute, when — despite having all 11 men behind the ball — he checked back onto his magic left foot and gave Argentina a 1-0 win. Or against Switzerland when he faced not one but two defensive midfielders, yet kept probing and prodding until he dribbled, drew defenders and sprung Angel Di Maria for the winner in extra time.

Messi has created for his teammates and scored four goals, carrying his team into the final. And if he wins it, especially in rival Brazil and against nemesis Germany? He will go from star to icon, overtaking reigning Balon d’Or holder Cristiano Ronaldo and cementing his place in history.

The 27-year-old Barcelona star already has won a record four FIFA World Player of the Year trophies and three UEFA Champions League titles. But it’s the World Cup that has left a gaping space in his trophy case and whole on his résumé — Pele has three, Maradona his one from 1986.

“I do not want to be world champion with Argentina, so that people can say that I will be a great like Pele or Maradona. I want to do it to achieve this objective with the national team, and to add this title to my list of trophies,’’ Messi told ESPN before this World Cup started, then going into a virtual media blackout. “I feel some healthy envy towards my teammates at Barca who have won it. No matter how much I ask, they cannot explain what it feels like.’’

Though several of his Spanish club teammates experienced it four years ago, now it’s Messi’s turn Sunday. And if he hoists the trophy in the Maracanã stadium, it will be the worst nightmare for millions of Brazilians forced to watch their archrival celebrate — millions, except for Neymar, who surprisingly admitted he is rooting for Messi.

“I am not supporting Argentina, but my teammates Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano,’’ Neymar said. “I support Messi FC, and for everything he represents to football, I hope he can win.’’

Messi FC underscores the difference between Argentina’s present star and its former one. He couldn’t be more different from Maradona — a quiet, humble one-man conglomerate who has avoided the press in Brazil while the latter was and still is a volatile, flawed man of the people, a street footballer who led Argentina to the 1986 title and 1990 final but was suspended in ’94 for drugs and recently accused his 22-year-old ex-girlfriend of stealing his watches and diamond earrings.

“He doesn’t need to win the World Cup to be considered a historical player in this decade,’’ Chelsea manger Jose Mourinho told Yahoo. “But for me, he is not the greatest player of all time.’’

And so it is, Maradona fighting his own demons, while Messi fights history — both Maradona’s legacy and Argentina’s against Germany. If he has nightmares, they likely are of tall Teutonic defenders.

He was just 19 when Argentina lost in penalties to Die Mannschaft in the 2006 World Cup quarterfinals. Four years later, he didn’t score a single goal in South Africa and got eliminated with a humbling 4-0 loss to Germany.

“Look, the inevitable compare-and-contrast — because he’s Argentinian, he’s left-footed, he’s diminutive — all of that’s going to happen. We know that,’’ said U.S. Soccer Hall of Famer Alexi Lalas, broadcasting the World Cup for ESPN. “There’s no way he can ever be Diego Maradona from a personal perspective — given what Maradona has meant, the man of the people and all that kind of stuff.

“But for being the best player ever to play the game, if Messi’s going to help lead this team to the World Cup and win it — and not just win it, but win it in Maracanã in Brazil — he’d have to be considered the best player ever to play the game with what he has done. And I do think he needs that when you do this compare-and-contrast. That’s the incredible pressure that he’s played under.

“Does it weigh on him? I think it does to a certain extent, because it’s never going to go away. But if he has this final box checked off, it opens up a whole ’nother wonderful world of this constant debate. But as far as I’m concerned, he’s definitely one of the greatest players ever to play the game, if not the greatest player ever to play the game if he wins this World Cup.’’