Messi v Mbpappe..a great match & total distraction

I’M most definitely not calling fix or anything, but, honestly, you really don’t think Qatar could have planned the World Cup Final in their country any better. 

- ROBBIE FOWLER

The two iconic players from the club the country owns, Paris Saint-Germain, facing off as the two standout, iconic players of the tournament.

It’s almost as if it were scripted.

And it has a certain flavour about it, doesn’t it? Messi v Mbappe, the greatest player the world has ever seen, against the guy who is likely to take over his mantle… team-mates who fly the flag for Qatar.

It’s soured for me, though, by the moral issues surrounding this World Cup – the lack of equality, human rights and the many thousands of lives taken in constructing a World Cup that never should have happened.

But what we have seen is a depressingly familiar story. As soon as the games kick off, the focus falls on the characters on the pitch, the glamour and drama of it all.

And, in Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, Qatar have got themselves the ultimate distraction.

It’s a PR person’s dream. Qatar probably didn’t need to spend all those PR dollars on countering the narrative on their human-rights record when they had two global superstars who provide the ultimate distraction.

Here’s the thing. It is an incredible story, and Messi, in particular, has stepped up at crucial moments in games to provide that spark of genius.