In the new BBC documentary Lionel Messi: Destiny, viewers get an inside look at how Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team finally won the World Cup. The film features input from players Emiliano Martinez, Alexis Mac Allister, and Julian Alvarez, as well as manager Lionel Scaloni. It was a difficult journey for Argentina, who went into the tournament as one of the favourites, but lost their opening Group C game 2-1 to Saudi Arabia. Martinez recalls it being “the hardest night of my life – I couldn’t sleep”. Mac Allister was one of the surprise stars in Qatar, and Scaloni praised him for not feeling pressure and playing “like he was in his back garden”. To make the players feel at home, Scaloni had 2,000lbs (900kg) of meat flown over from South America. In the quarter-final against the Netherlands, Messi showed a different side to his character, becoming “that bad boy” after cupping his ears to the Dutch bench in celebration of his goal. Martinez was Argentina’s shootout hero in the final against France, and his antics drew plenty of comment. He said “I’m a child on the pitch. I don’t see what’s going to happen next”. Watch Lionel Messi: Destiny on BBC One on Saturday, 3 June at 22:20 GMT, and on BBC iPlayer.
