“I was slightly better than the two lads here.”
Argentina are through to the World Cup final after beating Croatia 3-0 in a dominant performance that saw Lionel Messi grace the world stage once again.
This match saw the Argentina captain equal Lothar Matthaus’ record of most games at a World Cup, and when he converted the first-half penalty to give his country the lead, he became his nation’s top scorer in the competition.
However, it isn’t just the odd goal and showing his face on the big stage that makes him so special, but rather the fact that he’s 35 years old, and still bosses the match.
The PSG star came up against Croatian defender Gvardiol, who has been unbelievable throughout this World Cup, but even he couldn’t handle the magic number 10.
Messi twisted and turned him inside out before putting it on a plate for Alvarez to score his second goal in the match.
Despite his age, he just captained his side to a World Cup final once again, scoring a goal and getting an assist in the process.
Presenter Mark Pougatch was sitting in a studio with Roy Keane, Ian Wright and Gary Neville; all superstars in their own playing days, which promoted the journalist to ask the following question.
“You guys have won everything, played for your countries, played at the highest level – are you saying that he played at a deservedly different level to you?”
Keane was quick to answer, with a bemused look on his face.
🇦🇷 3-0 🇭🇷
Alvarez gets the goal, but it's the brilliant Lionel Messi who will take all the plaudits. A magical #FIFAWorldCup moment.#ARGCRO
📺Watch live on @RTE2 & @RTEplayer – https://t.co/2W5kFtUOPc
📱 Live updates – https://t.co/OkTNJUcHUp #RTEsoccer pic.twitter.com/OYCN2dTKfk— RTÉ Soccer (@RTEsoccer) December 13, 2022
“Is that a trick question?” joked the irishman.
“Yeah, of course. Listen I was slightly better than the two lads here,” he added. “When you see him live, what you see him doing against really good players – we’ve seen it for years, but sometimes you need a reminder, but what we saw tonight – we use the word genius.”
Neville took the opportunity to mention their game of 5-aside that went viral earlier in the week, where Keane scored the winning goal, took his top off in celebration and jumped over a bin.
Roy Keane scoring the winning goal during a kick about in Doha is the best thing you'll see today…and then there's the celebration 😂🔥pic.twitter.com/N5YaC136FW
— Pure Roy Keane (@PureRoyKeane) December 7, 2022
This was enough to make Keane stick by his praise for the Argentina legend, but throw in one little caveat.
“In saying that I reckon he’s never jumped over a bin like I have.”
We can’t say for sure about Messi, but the footage of Keane doing it is fairly impressive.
Related links:
- Liverpool ‘agree transfer’ for Argentina World Cup star
- Roy Keane and Gary Neville reignite argument about Cristiano Ronaldo
- Pepe claims FIFA are cheating so Argentina win World Cup in crazy interview
