Winning the 2016 Euro was a great achievement (despite not even playing in the final), but you can‘t be considered in the Pantheon(let alone the GOAT) with this WC career. We all agree that Portugal is no juggernaut, but they were good enough to win the Euros, weren‘t they. They were good enough to reach the semis with a young CR. Failing to even reach the QF and to even score a KO goal, is indeed a massive disappointment. You would expect that a player of his status would at least reach the semis once or twice in his prime. Portugal are no Feroe Islands. Look at Croatia and Modric for example.
Sure. That's a big red mark on his CV. From the GOAT contenders, CR7 has the worst WC exploits.
Messi did too but he turned it completely around this WC. I think the 2014 Golden Ball was a farce and consolation since Robben and James performed better in that tournament and Messi was an afterthought in the knockout rounds.
Let's look at it as a team. Portugal winning a Euro is a far bigger achievement than Argentina winning the Copa owing to the frequency of the tournaments, the number of teams and the competition. I think we all agree with this.
With the WC now Messi has a better and a complete CV.
Messi will pick up a couple of cheap trophies in the Uber Eats League and end up as the most decorated player ever surpassing Alves.
The last 2 years have completely changed the perception of his international career which was a huge red mark in his CV.
