India, July 17 -- Lionel Messi is set to feature in his third FIFA World Cup final as Argentina captain. Under his leadership, the South Americans reached the 2014 and 2022 finals, winning the latter. Now they are in their second-straight World Cup final and will be looking to successfully defend their title against Spain. But many fans don't know, or have forgotten, that the Argentine almost committed his international future to Spain, a country where he lived from September 2000 to August 2021.

He arrived at Barcelona at the age of 13 to join La Masia, the club's youth academy, and went on to spend 21 years in Catalonia before finally departing for PSG in 2021.

Former Argentina head coach Jose Pekerman, under whom Messi made his senio...