Sportskeeda's Top 10 iconic football moments of 2017

#2 Lionel Messi hoists Argentina on his shoulders and takes them to the World Cup

Leo Messi looks unto the heavens, as all Argentina looks unto him

Leo Messi has a chequered history with Argentina.

He's taken them to three major finals in the space of the last three years and he's seen them lose them all. He's fought with the administration. He's retired. He's un-retired.

At a crucial stage of the qualifying campaign, he was banned for three games by FIFA for questioning the profession of the referee's mother. A while later, having been struck by the realisation that Argentina without Lionel Messi was essentially the San Marino team with worse haircuts and that a resulting World Cup without Messi would be a disaster, FIFA reduced it to one match.

So he took the reprieve, hoisted Argentina on his slender shoulders and heaved his nation across the finish line with the most sublime hattrick of the year. Everything he did in that manic game against Ecuador (never a pleasant trip for a visiting football team, is the Andean nation) was sensational, a whirlwind of movement and dribbling and shooting and passing, it was 90 minutes of pure, unadulterated, Leo Messi magic.

F***, it was a sight to behold.

If you don't have the patience to sit through the entire video - start from 6:00, and revel in the glory that was Messi's third goal.