Rew4z_ (Huguiz Cáceres)

Since yesterday, I’ve been seeing an unbelievable wave of criticism aimed at Lionel Messi. I’ve even seen people saying he’s “not entertaining” and that he “never deserved to win a World Cup.” Just imagine how absurd the discussion has become. The image in front of you is the perfect response to all that nonsense. It’s a report published by the BBC summarizing Messi’s World Cup campaign, and as you can clearly see, Messi was the tournament’s ultimate standout. He finished as the second-highest goalscorer in World Cup history, created the most goalscoring chances and big chances, attempted the most shots, recorded the highest expected assists (xA), completed the most passes into the penalty area, delivered the most accurate crosses, completed the most successful dribbles, and carried the ball forward more than anyone else. These are World Cup all-time records. Anyone who watched Argentina throughout the tournament knows they would never have reached the final without Messi. He contributed to 12 of Argentina’s 19 goals. He led the tournament in chances created, big chances created, and expected assists, while completing an outstanding 72% of his dribbles. And he did all of that at 39 years old. Messi has nothing left to prove. He has already achieved everything there is to achieve. He completed football—and that’s one of the most deserved stories the sport has ever seen. ❤️