World Cup 2018: 5 Barcelona stars who will be key for their teams at the Mundial

#1 Lionel Messi (Argentina)

The GOAT will be desperate to win a first international title

No other person was ever going to be at the top of this list and any hopes the Argentinians have of a third World Cup triumph is resting solely on the shoulders of La Pulga Atomica (The Atomic Flea).

For a team that has been consistently filled with “stars” for a long time, the fact that the Copa America title won in 1993 is the Albiceleste’s last ever title is one of the more baffling things in world football, and the painful defeats in the finals of the last three competitions (FIFA World Cup in 2014, Copa America in 2015 and Copa America Centenario in 2016) by the narrowest of margins has only increased the hurt.

Too many times, Argentina’s big names have wilted and Messi has been forced to be goalscorer, inspiration and creative force all at once and given the state of the 23-man squad named by Jorge Sampaoli for the World Cup, it is a sequence that does not look like it will be ending anytime soon.

The Barcelona legend will be the deciding factor for how far the Argies will go and Cules will be desperate for their idol to finally get his hand on a trophy and arguably cement his GOAT status.