England soccer star James Maddison declared Lionel Messi’s performance for Argentina against Croatia in the World Cup semifinals Tuesday as “astonishing.”
The 26-year-old midfielder had faced double World Cup heartbreak after England was eliminated from the tournament in the quarterfinals by France and Maddison had not played a single minute since the team arrived in Qatar.
With this bitter pill still in his mouth, the Leicester City player decided to tune out from the World Cup since arriving back in the U.K. and before the English Premier League resumes.
His opinion changed during Argentina’s semifinal match against Croatia in which Messi produced some magical moments to take his team to the final with a 3-0 victory.
Maddison tweeted to his 360,000 followers how he felt that Messi’s performance proved why he is soccer’s G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time.)
The soccer star wrote: “Wasn’t sure whether I was going to watch the rest of the World Cup after we were eliminated… but how can you turn down the opportunity to watch Leo Messi when he can still play to that level at the age of 35. Honestly astonishing. [Goat emoji]”
It seemed to be a popular opinion with more than 90,000 likes and thousands of comments as fans debated whether Messi is the greatest ever and how his performance drove Argentina to another World Cup final.
Messi announced after the win over Croatia that the final on Sunday, against either France or Morocco, will be his last World Cup game.
A jubilant Messi said postgame: “I am very happy for finishing my journey in World Cups in a final, to play the last game in a final. That is really very gratifying.
“Everything I lived in this World Cup has been emotional, seeing how much it has been enjoyed in Argentina. There are a lot of years from this year to the next one. I don’t think I will be able to do that. To finish this way is brilliant.”
Many agreed with Maddison’s assessment of Messi and they replied in droves to his Twitter post.
One wrote: “There’s a reason most ballers, both active and retired choose Messi as their GOAT. He is the only GOAT, there cannot be two GOATs.”
Another compared this World Cup campaign to Argentina’s win in Mexico in 1986 when Diego Maradona was at his best.
They tweeted: “He’s incredible. It’s a joy to watch. The parallels with Mexico ’86 are there to see.”
Of course, there were those that felt Maddison was backing the wrong horse for the greatest player ever.
One felt that French striker Kylian Mbappé had a legitimate claim, tweeting: “That must mean Mbappe is the goat of goats because he’s been even better this tournament and he’s already had one of the best ever World Cups a teenager has ever had when he won in 2018.”
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