2022 Panini Instant FIFA World Cup Qatar Lionel Messi AUTO /10 #118 BGS 9 MINT

Argentina waited. Lionel Messi waited. A large crowd inside Qatar’s Lusail Stadium waited. Millions of television viewers around the world waited. Argentina had not won the World Cup since 1986. Lionel Messi had not won a World Cup in four tries, dating back to 2006. As for the crowd and millions of viewers, they had only waited a couple of hours. But all waited on the edge of their seat for the dramatic conclusion to one of the greatest World Cup Finals in history, as Argentina and France needed penalty kicks to declare 2022’s international soccer champion. Messi scored twice to pace Argentina against the defending-champion Frenchmen, but his then-Paris Saint-Germain teammate, French superstar Kylian Mbappé, secured a hat trick to deadlock the score at 3-3 and force the World Cup Final to penalty kicks for the third time in history. Messi struck again, as did three of his Argentine teammates, to secure the victory over France—snapping the drought that had gripped the country and its brightest star, who lived out his “childhood dream” of hoisting the 18-karat gold FIFA World Cup Trophy. “I was lucky to have achieved everything in this career ... and this one that was missing is here,” Messi said. “It’s madness ... look how (the trophy) is. She’s gorgeous. I wanted her so much. I had a vision that this would be the one, that she was getting closer.” Throughout the World Cup, Panini commemorated the action through its Panini Instant product, producing more than 100 print-on-demand cards in conjunction with World Cup action. Naturally, the most desired card from the series came after Messi won his first World Cup, making this /10 Autograph version one of the most coveted releases from the set. With seven total goals at the 2022 World Cup, Messi earned the Golden Ball as the best player in the tournament, and his 26 caps and five appearances stand as World Cup records. With this card to commemorate it all, the winning bidder will likely also feel as if they stand on top of the world.

This item was flash inserted on Aug 11, 2023.