英语新闻丨为“史上最佳球员”欢呼

After finally winning the World Cup, Lionel Messi made his strongest case yet to be considered soccer's greatest player of all time.

最终赢得世界杯，这可以看成是梅西被归为世界最佳足球运动员的最有力证据。

It will never be possible to say definitively, though, even after Argentina's 4-2 penalty shootout victory over France on Sunday in the final at Lusail Stadium.

但凡事都没有绝对，即便他率领阿根廷队在卢塞尔体育场以点球大战4比2淘汰了法国取得胜利。

Messi has been his country's inspiration throughout the tournament in Qatar and scored twice in the game that finished 3-3 through extra time.

梅西在整个卡塔尔世界杯期间一直是阿根廷队的灵魂人物，并在加时赛中梅开二度，在加时赛中取得3-3的成绩。

"It's just crazy that it became a reality this way," Messi said. "I craved for this so much. I knew God would bring this gift to me. I had the feeling that this was the one."

“以这种方式实现实在是太疯狂了，”梅西说。“我非常渴望赢得冠军。我知道上帝会把这份礼物带给我。我有过一种感觉就是这样的。”

Kylian Mbappe certainly made Messi work for a golden trophy that had eluded him throughout his storied career. The France forward scored a hat-trick as the defending champions came back from 2-0 down and then evened the match again after Messi made it 3-2 in extra time.

姆巴佩(Kylian Mbappe)的存在无疑让梅西为这座大力神杯而努力，而在他传奇的职业生涯中，这座奖杯一直与他无缘。这位法国前锋上演帽子戏法，帮助卫冕冠军在0-2落后的情况下扳回一局，随后又在加时赛中，在梅西将比分改写为3-2的情况下，姆巴佩再次扳平比分。

But this was Messi's night and Messi's World Cup.

但这是梅西的夜晚，也是梅西的世界杯。

"It took so long, but here it is," Messi said. "We suffered a lot, but we managed to do it."

梅西说："我们花了很长时间，而此刻它就在眼前。"梅西说。"我们历经磨难，但我们做到了"。

For some, no one will ever surpass Pele, who won the World Cup three times with Brazil. Even in Messi's homeland of Argentina, Diego Maradona remains, for many, the country's ultimate soccer icon after captaining the national team to the 1986 World Cup title.

对一些人来说，没有人能够超越贝利，他曾三次随巴西队赢得世界杯。即使在梅西的祖国阿根廷，在迭戈·马拉多纳（Diego Maradona）率领国家队获得1986年世界杯冠军后，人们将他视为国家的终极足球偶像。

And for the past 15 years or so, Messi has had a personal rivalry with Cristiano Ronaldo just to establish himself as the finest player of his generation.

而在过去的15年中，为了将自己打造成他这一代最优秀的球员，梅西与克里斯蒂亚诺·罗纳尔多（Cristiano Ronaldo）一直进行着个人竞争。

Competition is fierce when it comes to determining the greatest of all time, or the GOAT, as it has come to be known. It can come down to the smallest of margins that separate players of such brilliance.

众所周知，史上最佳或最伟大球员的评选竞争非常激烈。最终将用最小的差距来区分一众杰出球员。

Messi's failure to win the sport's biggest prize has always counted against him when measuring his achievements against Pele and Maradona. The same goes for Ronaldo.

与贝利和马拉多纳相比，梅西未能获得足坛最高奖项一直是他的劣势。罗纳尔多也是如此。

Messi is a seven-time winner of the Ballon d'Or award for the best player in the world and lifted club soccer's biggest prize, the Champions League trophy, on four occasions. He ended his wait for a first major trophy with his country at last year's Copa America.

梅西曾七次获得世界最佳球员金球奖，并四次捧起俱乐部足球的最高奖项——欧洲冠军联赛奖杯。去年，他首次代表国家队赢得美洲杯。

The World Cup, however, is the ultimate measure of greatness and Pele and Maradona secured immortality with inspirational performances on that stage.

然而，世界杯才是衡量伟大球员的终极标准，而贝利和马拉多纳在这一舞台上凭着鼓舞人心的发挥成就了不朽传奇。

That had eluded Messi until Sunday.

在这周日之前，梅西一直与世界杯擦肩而过。

Yes, he was part of the Argentina team that lost to Germany 1-0 in the 2014 final, but the magic he produced game in, game out during his peak years for Barcelona never seemed to translate when wearing the blue and white stripes of his country.

没错，他作为阿根廷队的一员，曾在2014年的决赛中以1-0输给了德国队，他在为巴萨效力的巅峰时期所创造的奇迹，似乎从未在身披国家队蓝白条纹的时候得到体现。

At 35 and nearing the end of his career, the tournament in Qatar was widely seen as his final shot at the World Cup. And if that is the case, he saved his best for last.

35岁的他已经接近职业生涯的尾声，人们普遍认为卡塔尔世界杯是他在世界杯上的最后一战。如果的确如此，他在此留下了自己最好的一面。

Messi does not dominate over 90 minutes anymore, but instead decides matches with moments of genius. He scored seven goals in Qatar, but, arguably, his assists have been more memorable.

梅西不再主宰90分钟的比赛，而是在关键时刻发挥天才般的作用决定比赛。他在卡塔尔世界杯踢进了7个球，但可以说，他的助攻更令人难忘。

His disguised pass for Nahuel Molina's goal against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals was weighted and measured to perfection. His twisting and turning run to beat Croatia defender Joško Gvardiol and set up teammate Julian Alvarez in the semifinals felt like peak Messi, only in slow motion.

在四分之一决赛对阵荷兰队的比赛中，他为纳胡尔·莫利纳(Nahuel Molina)的进球做出了伪装传球，堪称完美表现。在半决赛中击败克罗地亚后卫约斯科·格瓦迪奥尔（Joško Gvardiol）并助攻队友朱利安·阿尔瓦雷斯（Julian Alvarez），这转身跑动的感觉就像巅峰期的梅西，只不过变成了慢动作。

He has now surpassed Pele with 13 goals at World Cups and is tied for fourth with Just Fontaine on the all-time list. His seven in this year's tournament surpassed Maradona's five at the 1986 edition in Mexico.

现在，他已经在世界杯上以13个进球超越贝利，并在所有的进球名单中与贾斯特·方丹（Just Fontaine）并列第四。他在今年比赛中的7个进球超过了马拉多纳在1986年墨西哥世界杯上的5个。

Messi has now scored a national team-record 98 goals in 172 games. That places him third in the all-time scoring list for men's internationals, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (118) and Ali Daei (109).

梅西现在已经在172场比赛中打入98球，创下了国家队纪录，他凭借这一点在男子国家队历史得分榜上排名第三，仅次于克里斯蒂亚·诺罗纳尔多（Cristiano Ronaldo ）（118分）和阿里代伊（Ali Daei）（109分）。

There has been a sense of destiny for Messi and Argentina, even after its shocking 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in the team's opening game of the World Cup.

对于梅西和阿根廷来说，一直有一种命运感，即使是球队在世界杯揭幕战中以2-1的比分输给沙特阿拉伯，也仍是如此。

Messi had to summon every bit of energy in his aging limbs to get Argentina through the final and hold off Mbappe. Leading 2-0 and cruising to the title as the game approached the last 10 minutes, Mbappe intervened to remind everyone that he has already overtaken Messi and Ronaldo as the best player in the world right now.

梅西不得不调动起他不再健壮如初的每一丝力量来帮助阿根廷队完成决赛，并阻止姆巴佩的进攻。在比赛接近最后10分钟时，他们以2比0领先，在即将顺利夺冠的时刻，姆巴佩打断了这一切，并提醒着大家，他已经超过梅西和罗纳尔多，成为目前世界上最好的球员。

He scored in the 80th and 81st minutes to turn the game upside down.

他在第80分钟和第81分钟的进球让比赛发生了翻天覆地的变化。

When Messi put Argentina back in front in the 108th minute, he looked to have scored the winner. But Mbappe's penalty in the 118th saw the Paris Saint-Germain star complete the first hat-trick in a World Cup final in 56 years.

梅西在第108分钟让阿根廷队重新领先时，他似乎踢进了制胜球。但姆巴佩在第118分钟的点球让这位巴黎圣日耳曼球星在世界杯决赛中完成了56年来的首次帽子戏法。

In the penalty shootout, Gonzalo Montiel scored the decisive kick to secure Messi's place among the pantheon of greats and, perhaps, confirm his position as the true GOAT.

在点球大战中，冈萨罗·蒙蒂尔踢进了决定性的一球，确保了梅西在伟大神坛的地位，或许也证实了他作为真正意义上“历史最佳球员”的地位。

Source: Agencies via Xinhua

资料来源：新华社

Trophy

英 [ˈtrəʊfi]    美 [ˈtroʊfi]

n. 奖杯（牌）

Immortality

英 [ˌɪmɔːˈtæləti] 美 [ˌɪmɔːrˈtæləti]

n. 不朽

Intervene

英[ˌɪntəˈviːn]美[ˌɪntərˈviːn]

v.介入

GOAT: Goat in soccer:  is a term used as an acronym for the“Greatest of All Time”.