The one Spain let go — and can't stop

The boy they almost had

The story goes back to the early 2000s, when a teenage Messi — already at La Masia, already turning heads — was the subject of interest from the Spanish football federation, according to ESPN FC. The details remain thin, the approach informal, the outcome obvious in hindsight. Argentina held on. Spain moved on. And the rest, as they say, is the entire history of modern football.

What makes this fixture so loaded is that Spain didn't just miss out on Messi — they've spent the better part of 20 years trying to contain him. Euro titles, World Cup wins, generational squads built around Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, and now Pedri, Gavi, Lamine Yamal. Spain have had their own golden eras. They just never quite solved him.

What's at stake on 16 July

Argentina arrive at this match as world champions, Messi as the man who finally got his hands on the trophy in Qatar 2022. At 38, he is not the same player who terrorised defences for 90 minutes at the Camp Nou — but he is still the player defenders think about before they sleep. One moment, one set-piece, one late run into the box: that's all it takes with Messi, and every Spain defender in that squad knows it.

Spain, meanwhile, come in as reigning European champions — a young, fluid side under Luis Enrique that plays with a confidence bordering on arrogance. Yamal is 17 going on unstoppable. Pedri pulls the strings. Rodri anchors everything. On paper, this is a Spain side built to win a World Cup.

The question is whether they can do it with him on the other side of the pitch.

Could this actually be the last one?

It's worth being careful here: nothing is confirmed. Messi has not announced this as his final World Cup, and athletes have a habit of defying the timelines we write for them. But the arithmetic is unforgiving — he would be 42 by the time the 2030 World Cup arrives, and even Messi cannot outrun that number. According to ESPN FC, the framing around this match carries the weight of a potential farewell, and it's hard to argue with the logic.

If this is it, the opponent could not be more fitting. Not France, not Brazil — Spain. The country that once considered him theirs. The side that represents the one rival narrative to Argentina's claim on the sport's greatest player.

He didn't celebrate when Argentina won in Qatar. He just stood there, looked at the sky, and let it land. Whatever happens on 16 July, that image will be somewhere in the back of every Spain player's mind.