Messi carrying the weight of Argentina

For Messi, victory against France at Lusail Stadium on Sunday is a chance to finally get his hands on the one major trophy that has eluded him in his storied career.

The 35-year-old great has been summoning some of his finest moments in an Argentina shirt to inspire his country's run to the final.

"Each time we see him play, he makes us and the players feel something special," Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said. 

"There's something about him that people like, not only Argentines.

"We feel lucky and privileged to have him wear our shirt."

Messi's place alongside Diego Maradona as one of Argentina's two most iconic soccer stars has been secure for some time now. 

But he is yet to emulate Maradona's greatest achievement by leading his national team to a World Cup title.

Maradona did that in Mexico in 1986 and Messi has lived with the expectation of repeating the feat since he emerged as a prodigy at Barcelona nearly 20 years ago.

There have been numerous false dawns during that time.

There was the potential "dream team" of Maradona as coach and Messi as star player in South Africa in 2010 - but they went out in the quarter-finals after being beaten 4-0 by Germany.

In 2014, with Messi approaching his peak years, Argentina reached the final in Brazil but, again against Germany, Messi and co were beaten 1-0 after extra time.

Now, he's risen to the occasion as the tournament's co-leading scorer with France forward Kylian Mbappe on five goals.

Perhaps more notable have been his assists, such as the disguised pass for Nahuel Molina's goal against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.

Then there was his mesmerising run, turning highly-rated Croatia defender Josko Gvardiol inside out, before setting up Julian Alvarez for Argentina's tap-in third in the semis.

"It's at least something I can talk (about) with my kids one day that I guarded this great, great player," Gvardiol smiled on Thursday.

Those assists have been indicative of the fact that Messi can no longer do it on his own. The emergence of Alvarez, with four goals, has been vital to Argentina's progress.

Messi doesn't dominate for an entire 90 minutes anymore. Instead, he decides matches with key moments, and has been more influential than at any of his previous four World Cups.

Argentina haven't won the Cup since 1986 and if Messi retires without ever winning it, how much longer will the soccer-crazy country have to wait?

No wonder each moment of Messi magic and every win is greeted with such an outpouring of emotion.

If this is his farewell tour, he has given his supporters a wild ride along the way.

And with or without a World Cup, Scaloni has no doubt about Messi's status as the greatest of all time.

"It seems like we say that just because we're Argentinians and we fall into the trap of being selfish because it is very Argentinian to say that," he said. 

"But I think there are no doubts."