With eleven minutes left to play, 2-0 down against Egypt, Argentina began to face the possibility that Lionel Messi’s extraordinary World Cup career might be entering its final moments.
Instead, the 39-year-old delivered yet another reminder that it’s always too soon to write him off.
For Mohamed Salah, however, Tuesday afternoon’s outing became another painful chapter in an international career characterised by fine performances, immense responsibility, and the cruel absence of one defining triumph.
It was poignant that his (likely) final opportunity to secure an iconic victory in the World Cup came against the player whose name he once shared.
When a teenage Salah first began to emerge from the academy at El Mokawloon in the east of Cairo before earning his move to Europe, he was frequently described as the “Egyptian Messi” – an irresistible label for any slight, nimble, left-footed attacker blessed with balance, acceleration and an eye for goal.
Every country wanted their own Lionel Messi.
Two decades later, the remarkable aspect of Salah’s career is not how closely he resembles Messi, but how emphatically he escaped the comparisons.
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If anything, Tuesday’s Round of 16 meeting between Egypt and Argentina only reinforced that reality.
It became not simply a clash between two greats of this generation, but a collision between two men whose international careers have ultimately travelled in opposite directions.
Messi left Atlanta still chasing history. Salah left it with his reputation enhanced during this tournament, even if that truly defining international moment still evades him.
During the Argentina captain’s peak years, ‘the next Messi’s could be found everywhere. Everyone was doing it, in that era.
Japan had Ryo Miyaichi. Scotland had Ryan Gauld. Germany had Marko Marin. Israel had Gai Assulin. Mexico had Giovani dos Santos. South Korea had Lee Seung-woo. Algeria had Yassine Benzia. Croatia had Alen Halilovic. Spain had Bojan Krkic, among many others.
One by one, almost all fell short of expectation. Some spectacularly.
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Others never truly recovered from the weight of the comparison itself.
Salah, meanwhile, came closer than almost anyone to matching Messi’s impact, despite taking a radically different route to the summit.
Messi joined Barcelona as a teenager, won every major trophy as part of arguably the greatest club side ever assembled alongside Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Sergio Busquets, and spent nearly two decades at the centre of a footballing ecosystem designed perfectly around his genius.
Salah travelled from Egypt to Basel, then Chelsea, where everything stalled. A false start. He needed to step backwards through Fiorentina and Roma before exploding into superstardom at Liverpool.
Only five years separate them in age, yet Messi had already collected five Ballons d’Or, eight league titles and four Champions Leagues before Salah produced his astonishing breakthrough season at Anfield in 2017-18.
Unlike Messi, Salah has never quite been viewed as football’s great artist. Instead, despite his immense technical quality, he has often been perceived closer to Cristiano Ronaldo on the spectrum of genius and relentless self-improvement: an obsessive professional who has protected his body, maintained extraordinary physical condition and extracted virtually every ounce from his talent.
During their primes, both were devastating left-footers attacking from the right, tormenting defenders before cutting inside onto their stronger foot. Yet as age has shaped them, their games have diverged.
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As we saw again in Atlanta, when he registered the assist for Cristian Romero‘s 79th-minute header, Messi has become football’s supreme orchestrator. His dribbling remains extraordinary, but now it is married to complete control of matches through passing, rhythm and vision.
Even on Tuesday, when the game threatened to slip away from Argentina, his influence steadily grew until he bent the contest back in the reigning champions’ favour, first with the assist, and then – four minutes later – with a thumping equaliser.
Salah never possessed Messi’s passing range or playmaking instincts; at his peak he was perhaps football’s most devastating transition attacker; direct, explosive and ruthlessly efficient.
As that pace has inevitably faded over the past 18 months, he has increasingly become a moments player, capable of deciding games in flashes rather than dominating them throughout.
It proved enough against Belgium. It proved enough against New Zealand. Against Argentina, however, even another tireless performance could not produce one final miracle, despite Egyptian hopes of a late, late penalty call before Lionel Scaloni’s side scored their winner.
At club level, both can reflect on remarkable careers, although international football continues to separate them.
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Messi endured years of criticism with Argentina before completing one of football’s greatest redemption stories between 2021 and 2022. Once again, in the USA, he has authored another chapter to keep La Albiceleste‘s hopes of retaining their title alive.
Rarely have things been as dramatic, as tight, as this, but once again – when it seemed his journey might have run its course – he found another escape. International football continues to belong to Messi.
Salah’s own international story remains one of frustration despite everything he has given Egypt. He inspired qualification for the 2018 World Cup only to see injury prevent him from truly making an impact in Russia. He twice lost Africa Cup of Nations finals, against Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in 2022.
This World Cup, however, has changed aspects of that narrative; he helped guide Egypt beyond the group stage for the first time in their history before leading them to their first ever World Cup knockout victory over Australia.
Those achievements don’t disappear because they ultimately fell one game short of the quarterfinals, and even in defeat by Argentina, there were glimpses of why he is the most influential player the Arab world has produced in the modern era.
Despite his achievements, he’s never truly been spoken of in world football circles like Messi has.
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Despite the consistency. Despite the records. Despite becoming arguably the world’s most recognisable Muslim athlete and an inspiration across the Middle East, Salah has never quite occupied the same conversation as Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo or even Kylian Mbappé.
Perhaps he has become a victim of his consistency. Perhaps it is because so much of his greatness has been accumulated rather than concentrated into singular iconic moments. Perhaps lingering questions over his performances in the biggest matches have proved difficult to shake.
Ironically, Tuesday’s defeat may not alter that perception dramatically, yet nor should it diminish what he has achieved.
He’s been pivotal in Egypt’s greatest ever World Cup run, having broken new ground, and finally – while he may not be in his electric 2018 prime anymore – at least still left his mark on the tournament.
He’ll be 37 when the next World Cup kicks off, and while it’s not entirely impossible that he’ll be present, the defeat by Argentina likely represents the final chapter for Salah on the world’s grandest stage.
He’s come full circle.
Once christened with Messi’s name, he ultimately wasn’t able to eliminate the GOAT from the biggest tournament of them all. However, he departs Atlanta with honour, having long since succeeded where the other ‘new Messi’s failed – by becoming a legend in his own right.
