Argentina captain Lionel Messi has said defending champions France and Brazil are the two favourites teams to win the World Cup trophy in Qatar.

After winning Copa America with Argentina, Lionel Messi has his eyes set on the biggest prize in international football i.e 2022 FIFA World Cup. The football’s biggest carnival is set to take place in Qatar in November and Messi will have one final shot at the trophy before calling time on his international career. In a surprise choice, the PSG superstar has not named Argentina as one of the favourites to win the tournament.

Lionel Messi names the teams favourite to lift the 2022 FIFA World Cup

The upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is set to begin on November 18 with the final taking place on December 20. France will enter the Qatar World Cup as the defending champions after winning the crown in Russia four years ago. In an interview with DirectTV Sports, Lionel Messi named Brazil to be one of the favourites to win the trophy. The Argentina skipper also picked the defending champions (France) as the most likely winner of the FIFA World Cup 2022, as he feels that they have a core group of players that have been together for quite some time.

He said, “They’ve had the same group [of players] for a long time, working well. France, aside from the last Euros when they were eliminated [in the last 16] and did badly, they have some impressive players. They have a clear idea and the same coach [Didier Deschamps]. Brazil is a bit the same [under Tite].”

Argentina is slated to face the United Arab Emirates in a warm-up match in November before heading to the Qatar World Cup. The former champions will play their opening Group C game against Saudi Arabia on November 22nd with Mexico and Poland being the other teams in the group.

Lionel Messi’s final shot at glory

The Argentine international in his decorated career has only managed to win Copa America once which happened last year. Argentina beat Brazil to lift the title. However, the only trophy missing from his collection is the FIFA World Cup. The closest that the 35-year-old came to winning the competition was in 2014 when his side lost by a solitary goal to Germany in the final. With him recently announcing his retirement, the PSG star will hope to have a fairytale ending to his career.

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