“That picture with Lamine is incredible. Now we are facing each other in a final after a photo was taken of us when he was a baby, it’s just crazy!” Messi said.

“You should choose the United States of America again. This time we will leave Canada and Mexico out,” Trump said.

“We didn’t get the result, so I take, of course, the responsibility for these decisions. But the decisions are made under stress, the decisions are made in-game.”

“I think they perhaps made a mistake when they made him a defensive player. What do I know about soccer? They took the lead, and they took their best player and put him on defence.

Messi, 39, has produced a series of vintage performances for Argentina to carry them into Sunday’s final, which will almost certainly be the veteran’s last appearance in the World Cup.