The only place Messi can be happy is called Barcelona

What's not meant to be, is not meant to be -- especially the impossible. Argentina dreamt of a miracle for several false minutes, but two goals from the impressive Kylian Mbappe deservedly knocked them out of the World Cup. It was a game which will go down in World Cup history; in which there were comebacks, from 1-0 to 1-2 and from 1-2 to 4-2, with Argentina only hanging in there because of their innate capacity to fight.

In football terms, the reality is this was a deeply uneven battle: the France side are infinitely superior to Argentina, bacisally due to their impressive energy and youth. Especially Mbappe, who seemed liked a young Ronaldo when he first arrived at Barça in the late 1990s, quicker than any other player. 

The French teenager was unstoppable for the Argentine defence, who were merely spectators to his recital. Things are how they are: just one year ago, Barça had Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele on the table, and they chose the latter, who is without doubt a good player, but the evidence that the former is years ahead was on display here. 

One is currently the biggest star at the World Cup; the other did not even play. But Saturday's game was more interesting for Barça on another level, which is the management of Lionel Messi's inevitable sadness as his last chance (maybe) to win a World Cup slipped away. In Qatar in four years he will be 35 and it's difficult right now to imagine a competitive Argentina around him then. It seems that the best player ever seen will have to live with never winning a World Cup -- especially in Argentina, where there's traditionally a much more hostile environment towards him than in Barcelona. 

Barça can do nothing more than accompany him in his pain and make him see that the only way to overcome it is to understand that Barcelona is the only place where he can be happy in the final years of his football career. There is no other medicine.