Lionel Messi’s dream of matching late great Diego Maradona’s Argentina legacy lives on.
The seven-time Ballon d’Or-winning forward pulled level with Maradona on eight World Cup goals and a record 21 appearances at the tournament for his country on Saturday.
Messi’s brilliant low strike from outside the box sparked a 2-0 win over Mexico to take them second in Group C, just as their hopes of victory were starting to fade and fear was setting in.
Argentina’s talisman is two goals short of their World Cup top-scorer Gabriel Batistuta’s tally of 10 goals, but his winner should bring more opportunities to overtake “Batigol” in Qatar.
The real dream is emulating Maradona’s 1986 World Cup win, but Messi can content himself for now by levelling Maradona’s World Cup appearance record and goal haul, two years and a day after ‘El Pelusa’ passed away.
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