Argentina's big hope Lionel Messi arrived in Qatar to play in the all-important FIFA World Cup 2022 that begins on November 22 with hosts taking on Ecuador in the opening match. Messi is the star attraction in the World Cup. There is a reason to it. He is among the greatest modern-day footballers who is an icon all over the world. Secondaly, Messi is playing possibly his last World Cup as age is not on his side. In a recent interview, Messi dropped a bombshell on his fans when he hinted on retiring from the sport. He said that he does not think he ca carry on playing football anymore. 


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"I love football, I love playing it and I enjoy it, the only thing I’ve done all my life is play football, and I’m sure that whatever I do after will be related to it, although I don’t know what. I don’t think I’ll play much more", the PSG star told CONMEBOL.



Messi added that playing football was a big dream that he has fulfilld but he has a family now of three children and balancing life was a big challenge for him. 


"I don’t know, so many things happen… It was a dream that I always had as a child, of being able to play in Argentine football, that I would go to the pitch and I wanted to be there. But today it depends on many things, I have my family, three children, I just had a very big change in my life that was difficult for me and my whole family. Now I have gotten over it and we feel spectacular."


Messi is playing his fifth World Cup in Qatar. He has been winless on all four occasions, his best campaign being the 2014 edition when Argentina reached the final and lost to Germany. 


In 2018, Argentina were knocked out in the second round itself. In 2022, Messi eyes the glory, hoping to finish on a high. 


Argentina played a warm-up clash vs UAE recently where Messi scored a goal too. This year Argentina have many excellent players in form of Angel Di Maria, Lautaro Martinez, Nicolas Otamendi, Paulo Dybala, Alejandro Gomez, Rodriigo De Paul and Emi Martinez. 


They play their first match of FIFA World Cup 2022 on November 22 vs Saudi Arabia.