They were already burying him. Again.
Argentina were losing 2-0, Egypt were holding on, and even the best in history had missed a penalty. Social media filled up with rushed verdicts: “his magic is gone”, “he’s old now”, “the champion’s run ends here”. They wrote the ending too soon. Big mistake.
Because there’s one rule football has repeated for twenty years, and some still haven’t learned it: when everything seems lost, he shows up.
Cuti pulled one back with a header from his cross. And in the 83rd minute, Messi took the ball almost from the penalty spot, the same one they had saved from him earlier, and smashed it into the net. The same man who “was finished” signed off on the equalizer and unleashed the madness. Enzo did the rest in stoppage time: 3-2, and into the quarterfinals.
For two decades he has been proving wrong those who write him off as dead. And there he is, still collecting other people’s funerals, the ones he cancels himself.
Never celebrate too early. Never celebrate his downfall. As long as Messi is breathing on a football pitch, the match is never over. 
