Lionel Messi has finally completed football as he wins the only trophy which was missing from his trophy cabinet, the FIFA World Cup! The Argentine magician has been phenomenal in this World Cup and won the Golden Ball. He finally lifts the World Cup trophy as Argentina won the 2022 World Cup 4-2 on penalties, following a 3-3 draw that can easily be considered one of the best games in the history of the sport.
Lionel Messi has finally etched his name in the Greatest Of All Time list. And now fans are already claiming to present the Ballon d’Or trophy, the highest individual honour to Lionel Messi after his tremendous World Cup campaign. Not to forget, he started this season with PSG in excellent form as well.
Lionel Messi breaks both the Drake curse and the Golden Ball curse after winning the World Cup 2022 with Argentina
As Messi lifts the World Cup 2022 trophy with Argentina and also wins the Golden Ball award, he has now broken two curses at the same time. The PSG star has broken the Drake curse and the Golden Ball curse.
Drake curse
Drake is one of the most popular rappers in the world, however, the Canadian is known for allegedly bringing bad luck. Drake has bet on multiple matches and in most cases, the team he backs loses the match.
His last big bet in the world of football was for the last La Liga El Clasico match, where he backed Barcelona. Real Madrid won that match 3-1 at the Bernabeu. He has also lost other high-profile bets over the past year when backing the Miami Dolphins, Charles Leclerc and various losing UFC fighters.
Apart from this, it is assumed that Drake has also brought bad luck to athletes who took pictures with him. The likes of Sergio Aguero, Jadon Sancho, Layvin Kurzawa, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Paul Pogba have all lost matches or were accompanied by bad luck after they clicked pictures with Drake.
Drake backed Argentina in the World Cup 2022 final and bet $1 million and despite that Lionel Messi’s Argentina has won the World Cup, so it seems the Drake curse is finally broken. However, despite backing Argentina and getting the prediction right, Drake lost the bet as extra time isn’t counted and the result is determined based on the score after 90 minutes of play. So after 90 minutes of play, Argentina was tied 3-3 with France which caused Drake to lose his money but that didn’t stop the Argentine magician from finally lifting the World Cup trophy and breaking the curse.
Golden Ball curse
The Golden Ball is given to the best player of the World Cup. Lionel Messi has been awarded the Golden Ball courtesy of his hugely influential performances and finally lifting the World Cup 2022 trophy. He scored a total of 7 goals, only behind Mbappe who scored 8 goals and gave the most assists, 3. He also had the 5 MOTM awards, winning one in each of their knockout stage matches and one in the group stage. This outstanding performance rightly deserved to be recognised by the Golden Ball award.
However, in the last few World Cups, the Golden Ball winner, ie the best player of the tournament ended on the losing side. But Messi has now broken the Golden Ball curse after lifting the World Cup trophy and winning the Golden Ball award as well.
- France 1998 World Cup – Brazil’s Ronaldo won the Golden Ball award despite losing the final to France.
- South Korea-Japan 2002 World Cup – Germany lost the final to Brazil but Oliver Khan was awarded the Golden Ball.
- Germany 2006 World Cup – Zinedine Zidane saw a red card in the final after his famous headbutt and France lost the World Cup to Italy, however, he won the Golden Ball award.
- South Africa 2010 World Cup – Diego Forlan had a terrific tournament and despite Uruguay finishing 4th, he was awarded the Golden Ball.
- Brazil 2014 World Cup – Lionel Messi was close to lifting the trophy but Germany snatched it in the last minutes and he was later given the Golden Ball award to recognise his performance.
- Russia 2018 World Cup – Luka Modric carried his country to the finals and despite failing in the final step to France, his performance in the tournament was second to none, which won him the Golden Ball award.
Lionel Messi has now finally broken both the Drake curse and the Golden Ball curse after winning the World Cup 2022 with Argentina and the Golden Ball as well!
