Lionel Messi’s international football career wasn’t always a litany of heroic victories and dressing room anthems. For most of his time in sky blue and white he looked more likely to go down as a busted flush. An iconic club player who left his home too young and therefore severed the connection he could have had to his national team.
The wheel has well and truly turned and he now finds himself just one game away from back to back World Cup titles in what will be his last tournament at international level, if the song is to be believed.
Standing in his way is the ruthless professionalism of Spain and the man he once washed in a bathtub as a baby, Lamine Yamal.
Ken Early is in on the ground in New York and gives host Paul Howard his thoughts going into the game: the likelihood of a finale anywhere close to 2022 for drama, why Spain should win - and why he’s reluctant to go against Messi’s Argentina.
