Four Ballon d'Ors arrived at the World Cup in Qatar, and two left without glory.
Karim Benzema, the last winner, returned to France without saying goodbye to his teammates and without making his debut in the tournament, injured.
Cristiano Ronaldo left crying, alone, without waiting for anyone, with the only company of a camera that recorded his tears.
On Tuesday night, the Lusail stadium will see off the penultimate of the holding Ballon d'Ors and the winner will go to Sunday's final, also scheduled in the championship's most elegant venue, designed in Norman Foster's studio.
The Argentina of Leo Messi and the Croatia of Luka Modric have met there to settle the first semifinal of the championship (8:00 p.m., La1 and World Goal).
They arrive at similar moments of mental toughness, but at very different points of play.
Argentina advances hooked on a Messi that in his country they have begun to describe as "Maradonian", not because of what he does with the ball, which had already happened, but because of his canchero streaks in the victory against the Netherlands.
The coach, Scaloni, tried yesterday to take weight away from the moment: "He was always like that, he was always the same, a winner, and he has pride and a desire to continue playing ball that I envy."
Only that for years his fans did not see him and called him a "cold chest", the same ones who now celebrate his Maradonian courage in a team that overcame the Netherlands' comeback in extremis with enormous
strength
.
And to his pressure on the shooters of the penalty shootout.
They arrive with a newly acquired conviction that is what they are most similar to Croatia, which has not lost it.
Modric's is the most resistant team of the last two World Cups, in which he has taken all the qualifying matches to extra time, except for the final in Russia against France.
And that's the only one they lost.
Where they don't look alike is in the game.
Croatia plays to control the times from an exquisite and prodigious midfield made up of Modric, Brozovic and Kovacic.
Argentina has played above all to not do anything to him until Messi appears, who will equal tonight with 25 the German Lothar Matthäus as the footballer with the most appearances in the World Cup.
The 26th, which will leave him alone at the top, could be Argentina's sixth final or Saturday's sad duel for third place in Al Khalifa.
Nor are they too similar in the mood with which they appear in the semifinal.
The Croats look happy with the trip, amazed to have come this far again, as summed up by their coach Zlatko Dalic: “I thought these games were reserved for other teams and other people.
Nobody expected that four years later Croatia would reach the semifinal, among the best four in the world.
I have incredible pride.
We all dream, but I couldn't even dream what is happening,” he said.
"Argentina has more pressure than us."
And that is just what it seems, everyone determined to push Messi towards his first World Cup in his fifth participation, which could well be his last, at 35 years of age.
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