World Cup 2010. Argentina, with a nattily dressed and bearded Diego Maradona on the sidelines, were playing South Korea in Johannesburg.

A 23-year-old Messi, already a Fifa player of the year award winner and wearing the Argentina No. 10 for the first time in a World Cup, got a ball just outside the rival penalty box. As he caressed the ball with his left foot, five South Korean players, sensing danger, surrounded him in a bid to close him down. It reminded us of Steve Powell’s iconic picture framed in the summer of 1982. A 21-year-old Diego Maradona with the ball on his left foot, confronted by six Belgian players.

Two frames of two different eras yet such striking similarities. Both No. 10s, diminutive Argentinians and blessed with an exceptional left foot. But then one is a World Cup-winning captain. The other endured a fumble at the final frontier at the Maracana in 2014.

It’s something that keeps bothering Messi. A bulging trophy cabinet without the most cherished one. In Qatar, when a 35-year-old Messi takes the field it will be his final chance to hold the Cup which Maradona hugged and kissed in 1986.

“Messi with no fuss will bring the Cup to us,” had filled the Rio air on that 2014 July afternoon. Germany, deservingly though, had the last laugh and scores of boisterous Argentine fans, who had taken Rio under siege, were left crestfallen. Four years later in Russia, they lost to France 4-3 in the last-16.

This time the feeling is that with a little bit of luck, Messi’s wait could finally end. Reason? Last year they got their first major trophy since 1993 by winning the Copa America beating Brazil 1-0 at the Maracana. It gave Messi and his team the first feel of what it means to win a trophy for the country. After three runners-up medals in as many years (World Cup 2014 and Copa 2015 and 2016, the third setback even prompted him to announce his international retirement), the Copa win gave Messi a thousand reasons to smile about.

He goes to Qatar in a happy frame of mind scoring a fair number of goals and providing assists at PSG, his club since the summer of 2021. He has recovered from the inflamed Achilles tendon and played his part in the Ligue 1 5-0 win over Auxerre on Sunday.

“If it is my last World Cup? Yes, surely yes,” the record seven-time Ballon d’Or winner said last month. This will be his fifth World Cup appearance and in 19 matches he has six goals to his credit. “There’s some anxiety and nerves at the same time ... it is the last one,” he says.

In a Cup full of young talents like Vinicius Junior, Rodrgyo, Jude Bellingham, Pedri and Gavi or proven performers like Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema, Luka Modric and Thomas Mueller, Messi is still the superstar the world is waiting to witness. The Argentine captain may not be as lethal as he was in his heydays when dribbling past three-four defenders was par for the course, but he still draws enough awe from rival defenders.

Messi will count on Nicolas Otamendi and Angel Di Maria, two of the surviving members of the 2014 squad. They were together in Rio for the Copa triumph last year too. Juventus’ Di Maria, who was nursing a hamstring injury, has managed to make the cut. Like always, he is expected to form a deadly combination with Messi. There is a clutch of youngsters in the Argentina squad who will give support to the man they grew ANGSHUMAN ROY Copa in kitty, Messi bid for encore of Diego ’86 up idolising. The likes of Lautaro Martinez and Rodrigo De Paul will look to their captain for inspiration when the chips are down.

And his millions of fans worldwide will pray that the best version of modern football’s most famous No. 10 turns up in Qatar.