Lionel Messi: From shy genius to 'bad boy' leader – his Qatar transformation

When Lionel Messi won the World Cup at the fifth and, seemingly, final attempt
in Qatar last December, it was the last jigsaw piece in arguably the greatest
footballing CV of all time.

But victory was only part of the story. Behind the scenes and then on the
biggest stage, Messi's transformation in the Middle East became evident.

The 35-year-old's genius has long been beyond doubt and debate. But his
character had changed. As a teenager, Messi was so painfully shy he would get
changed in the corridor to avoid his team-mates in the Barcelona youth set-up.

"This World Cup he was different," said Argentina and Aston Villa goalkeeper
Emiliano Martinez. "We are probably more aggressive than the players in the
national teams he's played with before. So he's probably becoming a little more
like us - that bad boy."

"He's a great lad but he can't even direct traffic. How can you give the national
team to Scaloni?" Diego Maradona's typically colourful thoughts regarding
Lionel Scaloni's appointment to the Argentina manager job in 2018 captured the
mood of the nation.

Putting it bluntly, Scaloni was a Lionel Messi appointment - a deliberate

decision by the Argentine Football Association to keep a generational talent
onside and in the side.

In the years prior to Scaloni's appointment, Messi had a troubled relationship

with the national team and, at times, with the national boss. After a talented
Argentina team was comprehensively beaten by Germany in the quarter-finals
of the 2010 World Cup, Maradona, then-Argentina coach, criticised Messi's
leadership qualities.

A fiasco of a 2018 World Cup campaign brought an early exit for Argentina and
another coach in Jorge Sampaoli. Sandwiched in between was 2016, a year
which saw Messi briefly retire from international football after missing a
penalty in the Copa America final defeat by Chile. Such set-backs ensured that
the number one motivation for the Argentine FA in appointing Scaloni was to
keep their number one star happy.