'El Leo' has emerged out of the 'El Diego' shadow

There is a clip on the internet of a journalist from Argentina talking to Lionel Messi after the semifinal win.

“... no matter the results, there's something that no one can take from you and (that) is you resonated with Argentinians. There is no kid without your shirt. No matter if it is a fake, real or made-up one. Truly, you made your mark in everyone's life and that is beyond winning any World Cup... this is my gratitude for the happiness you bring to people… thank you, captain," Sofi Martinez Mateos, the journalist, said.

For Messi, who stood there bemused, thankful and misty-eyed, this was the final validation - the one he sought for so long. More than all the Ballon d’Or trophies, Champions Leagues, league titles, accolades, maybe even the Copa America title - Argentina’s first major trophy in nearly three decades - it was this, the love of his people.

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Argentina and its football are for the romantics. Filled with highs, heartbreaks and wonderful contradictions, it is how Argentina judges itself. Football was, and remains, the uniting force for the Argentinian identity. It is one for the barrios, the neighbourhoods. A sport intertwined with the idea of nationalism thanks to the history of players and clubs woven through music and stories to become legends and tales of Argentinian greatness.

Then there is Diego Maradona. The man whose life fed the legend of 'El Diego'. Who solidified what an Argentinian footballer should be, who cast a shadow so vast that it left generations of number 10s with a burden as the country struggled to put it all together.

That was the weight on Messi’s shoulder. The second coming of Maradona and the answer to Argentina’s prayers. But he was not Argentinian enough, having lived in Spain for most of his life. Even when he reached four major finals with Argentina, his illustrious predecessor's success overshadowed him.

“Messi is Messi when he wears that (Barcelona) shirt, and he’s another Messi with Argentina,” Maradona once said.

But that is the past. Winning Copa America last year seems to have liberated Messi, the blue and white shirt no longer hangs heavy. Lionel Scaloni, the manager, has allowed Messi to be himself. No longer expecting him to do it all but facilitating his brilliance, moving away from the Maradona complex. Because Messi is not Maradona. Even if he would like to be.

He is Messi. And now he is Messi in an Argentina shirt.

No longer docile in an Argentina shirt and gets angry when things don’t go his way. He shouts and snarls at referees and players but does so authentically. His chiding of the Dutch player - saying ‘go away, you silly’ - hardly sounds an insult. The phrase has since been made into T-shirts and songs.

His goal celebration at the Dutch bench was the Topo Gigio celebration, emblematic of Juan Roman Riquelme, publically shunned by Louis van Gaal, sitting on the Dutch bench, during their time in Barcelona. A club where Messi, a footballer in Riquelme’s mould and who shares birthdays, is eulogised.

This is Messi writing his final chapter with Argentina, filling it with stories and symbolisms into a compact seven-game drama. Feeding on the world's yearning for him to win a World Cup. Come Sunday, the story ends, one way or another.

But Messi has already won. In the first World Cup without Maradona’s presence in 40 years, Argentina has their new favourite son. 'El Leo'.