A World Cup without Lionel Messi would have been unthinkable, wouldn't it?
The man himself made sure that possibility would not occur as he single handedly dragged Argentina into next summer's tournament automatically with a hat-trick that helped the Albiceleste defeat Ecuador in the high altitude of Quito for the first time since 2001 and lift them out of the qualification trap door and up to third in the gritty 10 team marathon of a group.
Messi's team-mates have not been able to rise to the occasion in recent qualifiers but now that they have managed to get to Russia 2018, what can manager Jorge Sampaoli do to improve the situation and make them competitive at the World Cup?
Argentina's Javier Mascherano, left, talks with Argentina's Lionel Messi as they leave the pitch on halftime during their 2018 World Cup qualifying soccer match against Ecuador at the Atahualpa Olympic Stadium in Quito, Ecuador, Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2017. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
South American football expert Tim Vickery joined us to share his insight and he picked out Sergio Aguero - injured for the current international break - as a potential solution given his closeness to Messi.
"For me, now the front three, the trident now pick themselves. You want Di Maria close to Messi as we saw yesterday and for me, the centre forward is an absolute no brainer. It's Aguero. Messi and Aguero go back years and years. They're old mates and they have a relationship. The great hidden statistic of this Argentina campaign is in the 18 rounds, on only two occasions did Messi and Aguero start the games together. On both occasions they won. I'm sure if you asked Messi, who do you want to play with at centre forward, he would say Aguero," he said, pointing out that when Sampaoli threw Messi, Juventus star Paolo Dybala and Inter Milan striker Mauro Icardi together, it didn't work as the players don't know each other, but that with time and less pressure on the coach, a plan can be worked on.
Messi's vital impact was highlighted by another stat beyond his heroics in the must-win game in Ecuador.
"If you look at this campaign, he missed eight of the 18 rounds and in those eight games, Argentina only picked up seven points. They are so utterly and totally dependent on him and luckily for them, he really came to the party when it was most needed," said Vickery, who added that for the first time in a while, Argentina and Messi had space as Ecuador did not park the bus and that Angel Di Maria's inclusion provided a good foil for "combination play".
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