Messi's World Cup return: From dazzling winger to strolling veteran

If Argentina are to become the first nation to successfully defend their World Cup crown since 1962—and just the third ever—you can almost guarantee Lionel Messi will be at the centre of it. The 38-year-old is entering his sixth World Cup, a joint record with Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexico's Guillermo Ochoa, but the global audience will see a very different Messi from the one who made his debut for Barcelona back in 2003.

Argentina start against Algeria on Tuesday night (Wednesday 02:00 BST) at Kansas City Stadium, when the attention will fall on Messi once again. Most players decline. The elite ones find ways to adapt. Ronaldo reinvented himself as a penalty-box predator when his pace went. Messi has not adapted to decline. He has adapted so he can dominate and stay ahead of a game that has always been chasing him.

Since that 16-year-old made his Barca debut in a friendly against Jose Mourinho's Porto, playing on the right, dribbling and often cutting inside, Messi has reinvented himself at least five times to evolve into the player he is now for Argentina and Inter Miami.

Why Guardiola moved Messi away from the wing

When Ronaldinho, the then best and most recognisable player in the world, saw him train for the first time, he said "he will be the best." Two years later, in August 2005, Messi announced himself to the world in the Joan Gamper Trophy against Juventus. Fabio Capello, the Juventus manager, was so startled by the 18-year-old that he reportedly tried to sign him.

By the time Messi was 21, with Ronaldinho fading and the baton passing, then Barca manager Frank Rijkaard was clear about what the team needed from him. "Right in the centre of things," Rijkaard said. "The more he touches the ball, the better for the side."

During the first months of Guardiola in charge in 2008, the right side of the pitch was the Argentine's corridor, his private road to goal. The first time Guardiola decided to move Messi away from the wing was for defensive reasons. He did not track back and the full-back struggled. But the Catalan manager knew that Messi was always going to end up in the centre of operations. And the team would be built around his new position, for the biggest of stages and the biggest of moments.

The false nine and the birth of a system-breaker

The date: 2 May 2009. The place: Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Madrid. La Liga game. Guardiola made a decision. He pulled Messi off the right wing and placed him at the tip of the forward formation—but without the job of a traditional striker. Samuel Eto'o went right, Thierry Henry went left, and Messi was told: drop, receive, decide. By full-time it was 6-2. The false nine was reborn.

It was nothing new. Gusztav Sebes' Hungary had dismantled England in their own backyard back in 1953, when in their 6–3 win over England he repeatedly dropped Nandor Hidegkuti into midfield, pulling centre‑backs out of shape and creating space for Ferenc Puskas and Sandor Kocsis. Johan Cruyff, first under Rinus Michels, played a roaming forward role within the Total Football philosophy for the Netherlands.

At first, Messi became a problem without a solution. When he dropped between the lines, Madrid's centre-backs had to decide: follow him and leave a hole, or stay and give him lots of space. Neither option worked. Messi walked through the gap unchallenged. With Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Yaya Toure behind him and Henry and Eto'o stretching the defence wide, every decision the opposition made was the wrong one. Guardiola repeated the experiment weeks later in the Champions League final against Manchester United. Messi scored with his head 20 minutes from time.