Lionel Messi and Argentina crashed out of the 2018 World Cup after barely making it to the knockout rounds.
This defeat hurts much less than the loss to Germany four years ago. Back then, Messi was in his prime and Argentina had looked acceptable for most of the tournament. There was a decent probability of the Albiceleste winning and Mario Gotze’s winning goal broke about a million hearts in extra-time.
This time around, Argentina has overachieved despite their elimination in the last 16. They did not deserve to qualify for the World Cup and if it wasn’t for Messi, the Argentina squad would be vacationing right now.