Spain legend Carles Puyol says Argentina reached the 2026 World Cup final ‘thanks to Lionel Messi’

Spain has once again claimed global soccer supremacy, securing its second World Cup title in a 1-0 victory over an Argentina squad that was thoroughly outplayed from kickoff to the final whistle. Following the match, Spanish legend Carles Puyol offered a blunt assessment of the final, arguing that the Albiceleste reached the championship match solely “thanks to Lionel Messi.“

With its signature possession-based style, Spain neutralized Argentina’s attack, holding the defending champions without a single shot on target throughout 120 minutes. The offensive outage came as a shock, given that Argentina entered the match as one of the tournament’s top-scoring teams with 19 goals, trailing only France and England (20 apiece), who padded their tallies during a wild 6-4 third-place playoff.

Speaking to DAZN, Puyol lauded his former Barcelona teammate while emphasizing just how much the team relied on him: “If this Argentina team reached the final, it is thanks to Messi. I don’t want to talk about previous World Cups, but in this one they held onto Messi and he carried them all the way to the final. It wasn’t enough to become champions, but no—I hat’s off to him.“

As the captain who raised Spain’s first World Cup trophy in 2010, Puyol watched Messi evolve from a teenage prodigy at Barcelona into a global superstar. Decades later, the 39-year-old playmaker delivered another vintage tournament run, though it ultimately wasn’t enough to compensate for a lineup that proved overly reliant on its iconic captain.

Puyol closed his remarks with a heartfelt tribute to his former teammate .”I will be eternally grateful to Leo Messi for everything he gave us as a teammate and also for everything he has given to football, and I will always wish him the very best,” the former defender concluded.

Messi’s statistical dominance for Argentina in North America

While players like Julian Alvarez, Lautaro Martinez, Enzo Fernandez, and Cristian Romero delivered clutch moments during the knockout stages, Messi remained the statistical engine driving Argentina’s entire campaign.

The Inter Miami star led Argentina across virtually every major offensive category during the tournament, finishing top on the team in goals (8), assists (4), shots per game (4.4), shots on target per game (2.3), big chances created (8), key passes per game (3.3), and successful dribbles per game (3.5).

Conversely, Messi also led the team in dispossessions, losing possession 19.4 times per match. Rather than a flaw, that stat underscored just how heavily Argentina’s attack funnelled through their captain, a burden he embraced as he consistently created goals out of thin air throughout their final run.