MARTIN MAZUR / AIPS* – BUENOS AIRES: “This kid will save us”. It was 2006, the era of Saviola, Crespo, Riquelme and Tevez, but Lionel Messi was already feeling the pressure of becoming a World Cup legend.

He was 18 when he was called up for Germany 2006 and had already turned 19 when he scored his first goal, in a 6-1 win against Serbia and Montenegro. In the quarterfinals against Germany, coach José Pekerman decided to start Julio Cruz instead of the Barcelona wonderkid, a mistake for which he will never be forgotten. Messi ended up, arms folded, sitting on the bench.

At the same age, four World Cups later, Kylian Mbappé ended arms-crossed after celebrating his two goals against Argentina. A memorable night in Kazan and perhaps, the last World Cup memory of Messi.

What was so easy to achieve for Mbappé, for Messi has proved elusive. Now 31, the Argentinian has amassed every possible record, from Golden Balls to Golden Boots, but he has been unable to produce the same level of brilliance during a World Cup.

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He has never scored a goal in a knockout game in any of his World Cups. As if the FIFA trophy were some sort of Kryptonite for him. How many of his Golden Balls would he trade for a World Cup? “All of them,” say the people from his inner circle.

During his first six years as an international, tears and frustration escorted every Messi trip to Argentina. Then, after returning damaged, Barcelona and Pep Guardiola seemed to cure him in a few days, as if they had a magical spell.

Greatest talent

In South Africa 2010, Messi was undoubtedly Argentina’s greatest talent but not yet one of the experienced players of the team. His shyness was contrasted with Carlos Tevez’s outbursts or Juan Sebastián Veron’s leadership in the dressing room.

He did not score a single goal in that World Cup and needed two more years before he scored again for the Albiceleste. He was even jeered by some Argentina fans during a 0-0 draw in Santa Fe against Colombia in the 2011 Copa America.

For fans who never had the chance of watching him in action in a stadium, only on television, it looked as if the Argentinian Messi was a bad copy of Catalan Messi. That was the only record he never wanted to hold: being the only player with two different players in one body.

He was ying and yang, the happy face and the sad face, the lethal goalscorer and the one who could not score even once in 16 competitive internationals, including qualifiers, World Cup or Copa America: no goals and only four assists.

Imagine that happening in a Champions League campaign, or in the Spanish League, when there’s a DEFCON1 alert in the Spanish media if he has not scored after two weeks.

The problem was that there were two different universes and they both pointed to the same man. Was Messi a superhero? Was Messi a fake? But after resuscitating under Alejandro Sabella’s guidance, Messi ended his 2012 with more goals than matches played for Argentina.

He had already cried in South Africa 2010 (“I’ve never seen someone crying with so much feeling,” said Diego Maradona), and repeated in Chile 2015 and in the United States 2016 – the two Copa America finals that Argentina lost on penalties.

Fed up with losing, Messi announced, after the Copa America Centenario, that he would retire from international football, frustrated at not being able to win something with the Argentina shirt.

But during his holidays, he had second thoughts and his partner, now wife, Antonella, convinced him to try again. One of the ways of showing this fresh start was dying his hair in a very eclectic blonde. It was Messi the White, just like Gandalf, the wizard from the Lord of the Rings. So he came back to guide Argentina to victory, scoring two goals against Colombia and a goal against Uruguay, to try to avoid the risk of not qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since 1970.

Managerial switches

Then everything changed again. Messi was injured and Argentina changed managers too much, too often. Hence Messi rescued the team once again against Ecuador, claiming what was almost a last-minute wildcard for Russia. With Messi, Argentina won 70pc of their points; without Messi, only 29pc. His influence had never been more evident.

But going to Russia 2018 was like a loop. It was undoubtedly his worst World Cup. The gesture during the national anthem, moments before playing against Croatia, will be remembered forever: wiping his hand across his forehead, trying to cope with the pressure as never before.

It was the first time that Messi prayed on the pitch, too – and the game had not even started. It ended with Croatia winning 3-0 and Messi signing one of his most lacklustre performances ever.

What was more worrying was that, instead of behaving like a captain, Messi had retreated into the 2006 package. Isolated, alone and silent, it was the team trying to cheer him up, rather him trying to cheer up the team.

Not even the agony of beating Nigeria five minutes from the end, and his magnificent goal for the 1-0, was enough to motivate him. Argentina’s camp was full of problems, manager Jorge Sampaoli changing formations and names permanently, and managing with his assistants in front of the players.

Everything threatened to go wrong and that is what it happened.

Club contrast

Messi might be a football genius capable of deciding a match on his own but he is also a precious yet fragile piece inside the Barcelona machinery. He needs harmony and a positive environment to flourish.

Unlike Maradona, Messi is not, and will never be, the leader that emerges amid chaos.

When there is chaos, he retreats. When the manager makes an odd selection, he disappears. Leo would have never been the leader of Napoli in the mid 1980s, just as Maradona could not become the leader of Barcelona in the early 1980s. Their personalities depict perfectly the cities that made them famous: Maradona is Naples; Messi is Barcelona.

But the national team of Argentina are nothing close to Barcelona.

Will he have the willpower to come back and start over, with new younger players who revere him but, at the same time, desire to win a trophy because of him rather than with him?

Will he accept seeing his generation – Mascherano, Biglia, Di María, Higuain – retire and leave him behind alone in the dressing room?

Has he, internally, asked for a new manager, given Sampaoli’s ridiculous decisions? No, he will not speak up with words; but in Argentina they have learned to understand his looks and his silent reactions. That is why Sampaoli is a dead man walking.

Media boycott

Pibe, Argentinians still say to him. Kid. But the kid Leo has grown older. He is a man. He is the father of three sons. He got married. He has grabbed a microphone in front of a pack of Argentinian journalists, the ones he could not even look in the eye a few years ago, and informed them, respectfully, without reading, without staring to the floor, that the team would boycott the press for an indefinite time.

He has dyed his hair, he has grown a beard. He has quit the national team, only to have second thoughts and announce he would be coming back. He has become Argentina’s greatest goalscorer ever, the player who has captained the team for the most games, and he will have the record of presences now that Mascherano decided to hang up his boots.

He has played a World Cup final and three Copa America finals. He won Olympic gold in Beijing 2008. He is one of the most highly-paid athletes of all-time.

He has endured critics of all kind, some of them much more painful that the injections he had to take in his legs when he was 12 and still wanted to pursue that career in football. And he beat them. The idea of having a Messi-less Argentina is nothing short of terrifying.

So why can’t Messi be happy?

This is the question that managers, team-mates, journalists and fans have been asking themselves, desperate to find an answer, because, in the end, managers change, but the Argentinian plan is always the same: let’s rescue Messi so Messi can rescue us.

** AIPS is the international sports journalists’ association with 10,000 members worldwide. More information: www.AIPSmedia.com

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