Argentina are through to the 2026 World Cup final after a 2-1 win over England — and Lionel Scaloni, barely through the door of the post-match press conference, was already reaching for the superlatives. According to Foot Mercato, the Argentina head coach called Lionel Messi the greatest player in the history of football. Again. In a World Cup semi-final. Against England.
There are fixtures in football that carry their own gravity before a ball is kicked, and Argentina vs England at a World Cup is one of them. The 1986 quarter-final — Diego Maradona's Hand of God, then that goal — cast a shadow that has never quite lifted. Forty years on, Scaloni's side have beaten England 2-1 at the semi-final stage to set up another final, and the history of the fixture made every moment of it feel slightly larger than normal.
The scoreline, reported by Foot Mercato, has not been corroborated by a second source at time of writing, and Messi's specific contribution to the match has not been detailed. What is confirmed, per Foot Mercato, is Scaloni's verdict on his captain in the aftermath — unambiguous, unprompted, and entirely consistent with every other time he has been asked.
Messi is already a World Cup winner. He has the 2022 trophy, the one that completed the argument for a generation of fans who felt his collection had a gap in it. Another final does not fill a hole — it opens a different conversation entirely. What does it mean when the greatest player in the sport's history keeps arriving at the last stage of the biggest tournament, year after year, deep into a career that most players would have wound down by now?
Scaloni, for his part, is not interested in framing it as a question. He answered it in the press room.
The thing about Scaloni calling Messi the greatest in history is that he says it with the same conviction every time — not as a deflection, not as a press-conference reflex, but as a statement he appears to have arrived at and never revisited. It carries more weight coming from the man who picks the team, watches every session, and has built an Argentina side that functions precisely because of what Messi does and where he does it.
England, meanwhile, face the familiar post-semi-final debrief. The 2-1 defeat ends their 2026 campaign at the penultimate hurdle, and the fixture's history will ensure this one is filed alongside the others — another chapter in a rivalry that never really goes quiet.
Argentina's opponents in the final are yet to be confirmed. Messi, apparently, is ready.
Argentina are through to the 2026 World Cup final after a 2-1 win over England — and Lionel Scaloni, barely through the door of the post-match press conference, was already reaching for the superlatives.
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Foot Mercato
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