In this football language post we look at three newspaper headlines from the final of the 2022 World Cup; all of which focus on Argentinian captain Leo Messi. You can see more newspaper headlines here and don’t forget we have hundreds more explanations of football language in our football glossary. If you have questions or comments about this or any other phrase then email us at: admin@languagecaster.com.
Newspaper Headlines: 2022 World Cup Final – Argentina v France
The 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France took place last weekend and what a game it proved to be! 2-2 after 90 minutes and then 3-3 after extra time followed by a dramatic penalty shoot out that saw Leo Messi lead his country to their third World Cup success. In this post we look at how some of the British newspapers described this dramatic win – they all focus on the genius of Lionel Messi. First, the Telegraph newspaper uses ‘Miraculous, Magical, Messi‘, while the Times simply has ‘The Greatest‘ and the i-newspaper has ‘The Greatest Of All Time‘
Miraculous Magical Messi
The first of the three headlines comes from the Telegraph newspaper and uses alliteration (using words beginning with the same letter) to describe the genius of Leo Messi: Miraculous and Magical. The first of these words comes from the noun ‘miracle‘ which is an event that no one can really explain and here suggests that what Messi has done in winning the World Cup is something very special indeed. Miraculous in football suggests that no one was expecting a team or a player to do something because it is so difficult or challenging. Magical is another adjective used in the headline to describe Messi – he often produces moments of magic or brilliance to win games.
The Greatest
The next headline comes from the Times and simply uses the term ‘The greatest‘ to descibe Leo Messi after the win. He is pictured on the shoulders of his team mates with the World Cup trophy in his hands. Obviously, the word ‘greatest’ means there is no one greater or better than him but there are also other meanings here. First of all this is a reference to one of the most famous sportsperson of all time – Muhammed Ali who called himself the ‘greatest’. Secondly, we all know about the rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi – two of the best ever footballers – and each of their supporters feel that their player is the greatest of all time or the GOAT. Here the newspaper headline suggests that it is Messi who is the best or the greatest of all time.
The Greatest Of All Time
The third of our headlines is from the i-newspaper and uses the phrase ‘Greatest of all time‘ which is a reference again to Messi being the best ever footballer. This phrase is often shortened to GOAT and even has its own emoji (
) and refers to sportspeople who are the best in their sport.
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