The stars are aligning for another meeting between
Lionel Messi
and
Kylian Mbappé
on a global stage after their epic final at the
2022 World Cup in Qatar
.
The men's soccer tournament at the
Paris 2024 Olympic Games
starts on July 24 and Argentina has just joined hosts France in the 16-nation field.
Thus, after Javier Mascherano's Sub 23 team guaranteed its Olympic ticket on Sunday, winning against the current two-time champion Brazil, attention immediately focused on the possibility of the Rosario star competing for a second gold medal.
"A player like him has the doors open for him to join us
," said the Argentine coach, a man very close to Messi and a teammate of the team that won the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
"It will depend on him and his commitments. , obviously".
Mascherano revealed that Messi called him to congratulate the team that played the Pre-Olympic in Venezuela:
"He congratulated us, he was very happy
." We all know that Leo is a big fan of the National Team and follows all the youth teams. Delighted (to summon him to Paris 2024)”, he added.
Mbappé, for his part, has said several times that he wants to represent France in the Games that will be held in his country.
The men's soccer final will be on August 9 at the Parc des Princes, the stadium of his club
Paris Saint-Germain
.
Mbappé and Messi were PSG teammates when they attended the World Cup in Qatar and cheered at the Lusail stadium for perhaps the best final in history, which ended with Argentina lifting the trophy.
Messi scored two goals and Mbappé scored three in an electrifying 3-3, with France coming back to first force extra time and then the penalty shootout that Argentina won thanks to the saves of Emiliano Dibu Martínez and the final success of Gonzalo Montiel.
“I want to write my name in the history of the French team as the footballer who made a difference.
For every athlete, the Olympic Games occupy a special place,” the French star told GQ magazine.
The obstacles for Messi and Mbappé
But the thing is not as simple as with an expression of desire from a star wanting to go to an Olympic tournament that will be staged at the end of July and beginning of August.
FIFA regulations establish that each Olympic team can take three players over 23 years of age for the men's tournament.
There is no age restriction for women.
The complicated thing is that the players' clubs - Messi's Inter Miami and Mbappé's PSG (for now) -
do not have the obligation to release them for the Olympic Games
because the tournament is not on the international calendar that dictates when the clubs must release players to their national teams.
In addition, Messi and Mbappé will be committed to their national teams in very important competitions a few weeks before.
Argentina will defend the title of the
Copa América that will be played in the United States and France has the
Euro Cup
ahead of it
in Germany.
Both finals will be on July 14, just 10 days before the opening of Olympic football, with Les Bleus at home in Marseille.
Playing in a continental tournament, followed by the Olympic Games,
implies great physical demands
, especially for players from European clubs.
The Neymar case and Guardiola's wink for Messi
In 2016,
Neymar
—then Messi's teammate at Barcelona—was expected to be the standard bearer for host Brazil in the bid for gold at their 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Neymar missed the special edition of the Copa América at the same time. year to be the captain of the team that won gold at the Maracaná stadium.
He scored the goal to make it 1-1 in the final against Germany and then took charge of the decisive shot in the penalty shoot-out.
Messi also has his own particular history with Barcelona and the Olympic Games,
something that led to a legal dispute prior to the 2008 event. The Catalan club won the case before the
Court of Arbitration for Sport
, accompanied by two other clubs, by relying on the FIFA regulations that give them the right to veto the call for players like Messi, then 21 years old, to go to the Olympic Games.
However, the newly appointed new Barcelona manager accepted his rising star's wishes to miss part of the pre-season and Champions League qualifying phase to spend three weeks in China.
That coach, none other than
Pep Guardiola
, was right with his decision.
Messi returned with a gold medal and ended up lighting up a Barcelona team that completed a Champions League, Spanish League and Copa del Rey treble.
Mbappé's employment situation for July is uncertain.
His contract with PSG ends in June and he has always been in Real Madrid's sights.
Madrid's desire to sign a 25-year-old star may mean giving in to Mbappé's request to be at the Olympics, even if his joining the club is delayed until after the start of the season in Spain.
The French Olympic team is led by Thierry Henry, one of the members of the team that won the 1998 World Cup. Henry still does not know who he will be able to call for a tournament that will also include Spain, Ukraine, the United States and Israel.
“If they ask me, I would be happy to go.
But if it doesn't happen, I will understand
," Mbappé said in that same interview.
The dilemma of the three oldest: Messi and who two more?
If Messi finally decides to go to Paris 2024 - he never said yes, but he also didn't say no -, Mascherano will have two others over 23 years old to call up, as happened with Roberto Ayala, Gabriel Heinze and Cristian Kily González in Athens 2004 and Nicolás Couple, Juan Román Riquelme and Mascherano himself in Beijing 2008. Ángel Di María is another who sounded strong and even received the approval of the Jefecito, but in recent days he announced that his last appointment in the National Team will be in the Copa América.
Thus, among the most experienced, those who appear as options to add experience to the squad would be a goalkeeper (Emiliano Dibu Martínez?), a defender (Nicolás Otamendi or Cristian Cuti Romero?) and a scorer (Julián Álvarez?) .
It must be taken into account that on the menu for players under 23 years of age Enzo Fernández is among the world champions in Qater.
And that they could be cited without resorting to the exception.
Alejandro Garnacho (Manchester United), Facundo Buonanotte (Brighton), Nico Paz (Real Madrid), Matías Soulé (Frosinone), Carlos Alcaraz (Juventus), Alan Varela (Porto), Lucas Beltrán (Fiorentina), Alejo Vélez (Sevilla) and Luka Romero (Almería).