The 39-year-old has sparkled at his sixth World Cup – a joint record with Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexico’s Guillermo Ochoa – scoring eight goals and providing three assists.
But while Messi leads the Golden Boot race with France striker Kylian Mbappe, the global audience has seen a very different Messi from the one who made his debut for Barcelona in 2003.
Argentina will renew a historical rivalry with England in the semi-finals on Wednesday (20:00 BST) at Atlanta Stadium, when the attention will fall on Messi once again.