According to assistant Matias Manna, one of Argentina’s secrets to winning the 2022 World Cup is the support system behind captain Lionel Messi.

“I’m always obsessed with seeing what Messi needs in the team. And Messi needs good midfielders,” Manna, a video analyst for the Argentina team, said on Urbana Play on December 24. “The best squad we see, for me in the 2022 World Cup or now, is to put really good midfielders around Messi, and that is one of the secrets of this team.”

Manna likens midfielders Alexis Mac Allister, Leandro Paredes, Enzo Fernandez, Rodrigo De Paul and Giovani Lo Celso to race cars that know how to stop and accelerate perfectly. Thereby, they can best support Messi.

Manna also revealed how Messi tactically advised the coaching staff so that Argentina could win against France in the 2022 World Cup final. When watching the video of the semi-final match between France and Morocco, Messi realized that right-back Jules Kounde was the team’s weakness. won the 2018 World Cup. Therefore, he suggested that Angel Di Maria play on the left wing of the Argentina team.

“When we watched the France – Morocco match again, we saw Sofiane Boufal constantly surpassing Jules Kounde. Therefore, Messi told me that if Di Maria played, he had to play there. I think that was the most important decision in the history of Argentine football,” Manna added.

In the 2022 World Cup final, it was Di Maria who scored a penalty for Messi to open the score in the 23rd minute and directly doubled the gap 13 minutes later. Since coach Lionel Scaloni withdrew Di Maria in the 64th minute, Argentina immediately lost the game. In the 80th minute, Kylian Mbappe scored a penalty to shorten the score to 1-2, then volleyed to equalize 2-2 a minute later. After two main rounds, the two teams continued to chase. Messi increased the score to 3-2 in the 108th minute, but it only took Mbappe 10 minutes to earn the second penalty and equalize 3-3. France would have even won if Kolo Muani had not hit goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez’s foot in the opposite phase in the 120+3 minute. After that, Argentina won the penalty shootout 4-2.

During the journey to conquer the World Cup, coach Scaloni often let the midfield trio De Paul, Mac Allister, and Enzo Fernandez play in the main role behind Messi. De Paul has the role of interceptor, while the remaining two midfielders distribute the offensive ball. After the World Cup, Ezno Fernandez joined Chelsea and became the most expensive player in Premier League history. And Mac Allister joined Liverpool.

Messi scored seven goals and assisted three times at the 2022 World Cup. He became the Best Player of the tournament, and won this title for the second time, after the 2014 World Cup. After the World Cup, Messi won the title of Best Player. FIFA – The Best 2022 and Golden Ball 2023.