The man breaking World Cup records starts every morning at home with something utterly ordinary. Lionel Messi, Argentina's captain and 2022 world champion, reveals his breakfast: toast with dulce de leche and mate. Nothing more.

At nearly 39, Messi still plays incredibly - he recently became the top scorer in World Cup history with 18 goals. But he starts the morning the same as millions of Argentines: with a spread of caramelised milk and the traditional mate drink, always with the family, with his wife Antonela and their three children. It's a breakfast that ties him to his childhood in Rosario, not to his status as a star.

During tournaments he follows a stricter regime - combining carbohydrates with proteins and limiting calories and sweets. But he has never hidden his weakness for chocolate, ice cream and dulce de leche. And he isn't alone: Argentina produces 140,000 tonnes of dulce de leche a year, and every Argentine eats 3.5 kilograms of it annually.

There's something reassuring in the fact that the best footballer of his generation doesn't breakfast on some laboratory protein powder, but on toast with something sweet and a cup of mate with the family. A table culture that doesn't change, no matter the money and the fame. Maybe that's exactly it - the feeling that some things stay the same - that keeps him on the pitch when everyone else has already given up.