Is Lionel Messi still the greatest after Argentina's exit?

Can Lionel Messi be regarded as The Greatest without a World Cup win The debate rages on after Argentinas premature exit from Russia 2018Messi is a mesmerising talent with a trophy collection and goal record to match at Barcelona Yet Argentina have fallen short Again It is likely Messi who turned 31 on June 24 has played in his last World Cup finals The famous trophy will almost certainly prove elusiveA giant all the sameThe magician from Rosario may stand at 5ft 7in 170m in his studs but his talent makes him a giant with 500 goals for and 17 major trophies with Barca before the age of 30Messi arrived in Catalonia as a prodigious 13yearold a junior sensation with hometown club Newells Old Boys after Barca director Charly Rexach proffered a contract written on a napkin Initially stricken by homesickness and hampered by a growth hormone deficiency Messi let his football do the talking running rings around his vaunted teammates in training at La MasiaA stunned Argentine fan on Saturday PicSuman ChattopadhayayHis predecessor as Barca talisman the abundantly talented Ronaldinho took a shine to the shy boy and encouraged then boss Frank Rijkaard to promote him to the first team in 2005Messi never looked back Once Barca had swerved a bigmoney bid from Inter Milan the 18yearold forward began to steadily lock down a starting place and was unfortunate to miss the 2006 Champions League final victory over Arsenal in Paris with a hamstring injuryThat disappointment behind him he spearheaded Barcas domestic revival under Pep Guardiola He had taken the number 10 shirt from the departed Ronaldinho in the summer of 2008 and the season that followed ended with 38 goals in all competitions and a league cup and European treble Now an immovable object in the starting XI under Guardiola playing mainly on the right wing Messi improved his already fantastic goalscoring record and soon operated without positional constraints as a false nine or freethinking forwardMagnificent recordFour consecutive Ballon dOr awards went his way as he carried Barca into the postGuardiola era and in 201112 he scored an eyewatering 73 times albeit not enough to stop Real Madrid winning La LigaA succession of injuries and doubts about his longterm future in Barcelona meant performances dipped before the 2014 World Cup but in Brazil Messi fired Argentina to the finalSuch has been the level of his frustration over a drought of honours on the international stage Messi briefly turned his back on his national team in 2016 That came after a fourth runnersup finish at a major tournament in nine years as Chile won the Copa America final in which Messi missed a penalty in a shootout He reversed his decision inside two monthsSome say he has not performed for his nation yet it was Messi who dragged Argentina to the 2018 World Cup finals scoring a hattrick in the final qualifying match with Ecuador to secure an automatic qualification place which had looked a forlorn hope He will seek to continue to challenge the limits with Barcelona even if he no longer will with ArgentinaJames CannCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever