With less than a month until the World Cup kicks off, Lionel Messi has 10 goal involvements in Inter Miami’s last 10 games. This week’s soccer questions examine Manchester City’s next steps, whether Messi is peaking at the perfect time, and what Celtic’s title win means for Scottish soccer, along with Argentina’s World Cup plans and the prospect of a Premier League without Pep Guardiola.
Will Succeeding Pep Guardiola at Man City Be an Impossible Job?
Sir Alex Ferguson may have him beat for longevity and number of titles. Arsène Wenger can take some credit for English soccer’s modernization in the 1990s, but Pep Guardiola completely changed the landscape in his decade as Manchester City manager. If Sunday’s final game of the season against Aston Villa is indeed to be Guardiola’s last match as City boss, he will leave behind a glittering legacy – six Premier League titles and 20 trophies over 10 seasons. He will also leave behind an impossible job for whoever, expected to be Enzo Maresca, succeeds him.
Replacing such a dominant figure won’t be easy. City need only look at the struggles of some of their rivals when faced with a similar challenge. After Ferguson, there was David Moyes. After Wenger, there was Unai Emery. Arne Slot succeeded Jürgen Klopp with a title in his first Premier League season, but his struggles since have continued the trend. So much of Guardiola’s City success has been down to the details – the tactics, the training sessions, the technicality. The intangibles, however, will be the most difficult thing to replace. As long as Guardiola was in the dugout, Manchester City had an aura. Something to be feared. Something that said Guardiola would ultimately find a way to win.
Of course, City still boast one of the strongest squads anywhere in world soccer, even if they are midway through a rebuild. Manchester City won titles and trophies before Guardiola and they should win more after he’s gone. And yet the Etihad Stadium will be a different place without the greatest manager of his generation there, as will the Premier League.
Is Lionel Messi Peaking at the Right Time for One Last World Cup?
Messi hasn’t even confirmed if he’ll accept a call-up to Argentina’s World Cup squad this summer, but he’s certainly playing like he is preparing for one last shot at international soccer glory. Anyone who watched Inter Miami’s match against the Portland Timbers on Sunday saw that. He’s peaking at the right time. The Portland defense saw little else than a blur in the shape of the Miami No 10 who dribbled and jinked through almost every tackle he faced. Messi’s assist for Germán Berterame’s goal to make it 2-0 was like watching the 38-year-old at his absolute best again. The only thing missing was Jérôme Boateng falling flat on his face.
Many saw the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as the final act of Messi’s career at the elite level. The image of him lifting the famous trophy was a defining one and few expected him to still be at the level where he could impact World Cup matches three-and-a-half years later. On the basis of his recent form in MLS, though, Messi is still more than capable of a match-winning moment. He may not play every minute of every game for Argentina this summer, but Messi is clearly motivated for one more tilt at the World Cup, so much so that he is doing double training sessions with Rodrigo De Paul to be ready.
Messi has nothing left to prove this summer. The debate around him being the greatest of all time was settled in Qatar. Yet it’s impossible not to watch his form, his streak of 10 goal contributions in four games, and feel the anticipation of what another World Cup could bring for him.
Was Yet Another Celtic Title Win Bad for Scottish Soccer?
It wasn’t to be Hearts’ day. For 250 days of the 2025/26 season, it had been their day at the top of the Scottish Premiership table. Derek McInnes’s team entered Saturday’s showdown with Celtic knowing a draw would make them the first non-Old Firm side since Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1985 to be crowned Scottish champions. In the end, the wait was extended. Celtic couldn’t have done anything more to not win this season’s Scottish title. They had three different managers, one of them twice. They endured two transfer windows so abysmal that fan protests were widespread. The Green Brigade, their largest supporters group, was banned from Celtic Park. The club spent much of the 2025/26 campaign in civil war.
So what does it say about Scottish soccer that even after all this tumult Celtic lifted the Scottish Premiership trophy for the 14th time in 15 seasons? How has the soccer landscape in the country become so tilted to one side that incompetence on such a scale can still be rewarded? This isn’t the way soccer should work. Hearts may be back again as challengers. This season was a Leicester City-esque story in the sense that the Edinburgh side somehow bridged a vast financial gulf to the bigger, richer clubs in their league. Leicester, however, never had someone like Tony Bloom behind them. They didn’t have a team of nerds powering their recruitment like Hearts do with Jamestown Analytics.
While Hearts have their data, Celtic have £77m ($103m) in the bank. They surely will spend some of that to tighten their grip at the top of the Scottish game with Rangers likely to improve for next season. Hearts – or any other non-Old Firm team, for that matter – may not get another opportunity to upset the established order like the one they had this season.
