Jack Wilshere: Lionel Messi is from another planet – I have NEVER been so emotional watching a football match

I have NEVER felt so emotional at a football game.

I really wanted Lionel Messi to win the World Cup. Every time Argentina scored I screamed at the TV with excitement – ​​and screamed at myself hoarsely when the French came back.

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I watched it with my Arsenal coaching staff and we were all up and down like yo-yos.

I won’t go so far as to say that I cried when that final whistle blew – but I might have if Messi had lost.

And to make the occasion absolutely perfect he had my old Gunners pal Emi Martinez standing next to him as World Champion and after playing so great.

Honestly, it doesn’t get any better – unless, of course, England would have won.

I said during this World Cup that Messi is the best player ever and for any doubters, I assume the debate is over there.

Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo was a phenomenal player, but I repeat, Messi is from another planet.

He’s head and shoulders ahead of everyone else in the game.

He scored twice and played a magical role in Angel Di Maria’s goal, in a classic final with the pressure of his country and most of the world on his shoulders. Wow.

I’m telling you, we’ll never see a player like Messi again – ever.

I loved playing football, I love coaching and I love watching it – and he’s one of the reasons this game is the greatest in the world.

How sick does Kylian Mbappe have to be to score and lose a hat-trick?

It didn’t look like the Golden Boot would be much of a consolation as he had to pose for photos alongside Emi and Messi.

But to see Emi do what he did was incredible.

Having seen him as a 17-year-old boy at Arsenal on loan to Oxford, Rotherham and Sheffield on Wednesday to now become world champions. I’m so happy for him.

He made one of the best and most important saves of all time in a World Cup final – which was stopped with his foot by Randal Kolo Muani right at the end of extra time to send them to penalties.

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Seriously, that save helped Messi get the prize that we all wanted so badly for him and that he wanted more than anything.

Then Emi Kingsley saves Coman’s gunfight – and fiddles with Aurelien Tchouameni’s head to make him miss.

He has tremendous presence in goal. The target gets smaller and smaller when he’s in and I actually thought he was saving one of Mbappe’s penalties from a shootout. He must have come very close.

For him, winning the Golden Glove as best goalkeeper – and the World Cup itself – is not okay.

It just shows why you should never give up in life.

He couldn’t get what he wanted becoming a first-team goalkeeper at Arsenal but now he’s at the top of the world.

God knows what it must have been like in that stadium.

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Can you ever remember such a finale?

We have a Youth Cup game against Millwall today and I want my kids to learn from that – to go on that pitch and leave it all out there like those two teams did.

Yes, France started out slow, but we ended up with an epic and it was a lesson in total commitment.

Football is a wonderful game – and sometimes tactics take a back seat.

Systems can be talked about all you want, but the chaos out there was a joy. I very much doubt we’ll ever see a game like it again.

I wrote ahead of this final about how proud I was to have played against Messi – and to have his shirt on my son Archie’s wall.

Well, this shirt is sure to be even more special now!

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