Bailá! Bailá ahora!”
Colombia's Yerry Mina was shocked, and a shade embarrassed. He was still wrapping his head around missing his penalty in the shootout of the Copa America semifinal against Argentina. The centre-back had let goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez into his head before the spot-kick.
But, more than Martinez's trash-talk, what caught the eye was Lionel Messi's reaction to Mina's mess-up. The usually reticent and impassive Argentina skipper was doing (forgive the irony) a Cristiano Ronaldo! All pumped up and bouncing ahead of his teammates, Messi was shouting, "Dance! Dance again!" to his ex-Barcelona teammate, in Spanish. His legions of fans were pleasantly surprised. It was a sign of things to come, they predicted, they hoped.
Argentina went on to beat Colombia 3-2 in penalties (1-1 at full-time), and then upset defending champions and arch-rivals Brazil 1-0 in a dream final at the iconic Maracanã, to lift their first major international trophy in 28 years. Messi wept tears of joy. He danced with his team, video-called his family from the ground and wept some more. The monkey was off his back, and he had led the Albiceleste in characteristic, yet uncharacteristic, fashion to a title triumph.
Was Messi taunting Mina for the latter's 'thumb-suck and dance' celebration after scoring in the penalty shootout against Uruguay in the quarterfinal? Only he can say. But, the desperation and hunger to win his first bit of silverware with the senior team was more visible than ever before. The bleeding left ankle in that game is part of Argentine folklore now. In fact, after the title win, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni revealed that Messi was carrying an injury during the semifinal and final, though he did not specify the nature of it. Before the Copa this year, Messi reportedly told his journalist friend Veronica Brunati, “I would swap all my Golden Boots for one trophy for Argentina.” This time, he got to keep the Golden Boot (four goals, five assists), and that one trophy.
But the wait was long and painful. Messi's 'final jinx' started with the 0-3 loss to the Seleção at the 2007 Copa America. Then came the triple-whammy—the 0-1 extra-time loss to Germany at the 2014 World Cup, followed by a penalty shootout setback against Chile at the Copa America next year. It was déjà vu for 'La Pulga' in the 2016 Copa America, as Argentina went down to Chile once again in a penalty shootout, with Messi missing his spot-kick. A frustrated Messi announced 'retirement', only to reverse it months later. He had won the 2008 Olympics gold with the senior team, but for the football-crazy nation, it was not enough.
The pressure to deliver in Argentine colours was immense. “The World Cup is like a revolver to his head,” former coach Jorge Sampaoli once said about Messi. Another former head coach, the late Alejandro Sabella, put Messi’s habit of throwing up on the pitch, down to anxiety. “Nerves. I reckon that in these moments there is anxiety more than anything,” Sabella had said before departing for Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.
Every loss in the iconic blue and white colours broke him, but Messi endured it all with an eerie calmness, on the outside, which was often mistaken for aloofness or detachment from the national team. For, Argentina was used to a certain Diego Maradona—the 'El Pibe de Oro' (golden boy), who delivered them the World Cup in 1986, and wore his heart on his sleeve. It was a crown that sat nicely on the late maverick genius's head, but Messi was still growing into the Argentine 'Pibe' (street-smart kid) concept.
It was at Camp Nou that Messi evolved from a right-winger—under manager Frank Rijkaard at 16—to a more central (and the legendary false 9 position) role under Pep Guardiola, which seems to be working for him at the international level, too, now. Soon after Luis Enrique took over as the Barca manager in 2014, Messi went back to the right-wing, but would drift inside with devastating effect, with Neymar and Luis Suarez for company (the dreaded M-S-N). "His (Messi's) evolution is beyond doubt,” Enrique famously said in 2017. “It has been a process helped by his maturity as a person. There were years in which he was a goalscorer, but now, he is a total footballer, capable of everything in attack and defence."
Now, at 34, he does not run as much as he used to, does not dribble for fun, or press ahead for adventure. And yet, he is at his effective best. Under Scaloni—the former assistant coach who took over from Sampaoli after the 2018 World Cup debacle—Messi has a free role, with the burden of building play being shared by the talented bunch of Rodrigo De Paul, Giovani Lo Celso and Guido Rodrigues, along with the ageing but occasionally brilliant Angel di Maria. And with Lautaro Martinez usually deployed as the sole striker who draws the centre-backs, creating open spaces upfront, Messi does what he does best—conserve energy for the bursts down the middle, or find his mates on either side in the final third. Like he did in the match against Ecuador, which Argentina won 3-0. He assisted two of the goals—the second one defying logic, really—and scored the third off a free-kick, which had Messi written all over it. “I’d never seen two assists in a single goal: He leaves Nico González facing goal first and then, tac, serves Rodrigo De Paul a pass which Messi himself could barely see. He finds an impossible corridor for the ball to reach De Paul. Only Messi could do that,” said former Argentine great Hernan Crespo about that wonder assist.
The other visible change has been the improvement in his free-kicks. Seven years ago, with Germany leading 1-0 in extra-time, Messi had one last chance to save his team in the World Cup final. But his free-kick sailed way above the bar. He was inconsolable for hours in the changing room after the loss. Since then, however, he seems to have worked on his free-kicks with a vengeance. Between 2004 and 2015, for Barcelona, he had scored only 16 goals off free-kicks. But, since then, by mid-2020, he had already doubled the tally for the club. At the Copa this year, two of his four goals came from free-kicks.
Off the field too, change was in the air. Last year, he took to social media to post an emotional tribute for the departing Suarez, in which, unlike in the past, he took a dig at the sorry state of affairs at Barcelona. His rift with club president Josep Bartomeu is well documented, and he even threatened to leave the club he had played for all his life.
Perhaps, Messi 2.0 has finally found his feet and voice. He also seems to be more comfortable in his role as a leader and mentor, and being an integral part of the Scaloni set-up. “Nobody disputes Messi’s sense of belonging in the Argentina squad,” Brunati was quoted as saying. “Today, the country believes in this team.”
Post the Copa America win, Messi, too, must believe that he can fulfil the prophecy with a World Cup win next year in Qatar, and put to bed one of the greatest debates of all-time.