By Opta Analyst | Created at 2026-10-05 12:46:36 | Updated at 2026-10-05 13:53:04
1 hour ago
Lionel Messi will represent Argentina for the last time in a farewell match on Tuesday, closing out a glorious international career that ultimately rewarded his patience.
Not for the first time, Lionel Messi is returning to the Argentina national team. This occasion, however, will be accompanied by a sense of completion and celebration rather than obligation, as the Albiceleste bid farewell to probably the greatest footballer ever.
Messi will don the Argentina shirt one last time in Tuesday’s friendly against Benin (who else?!) after he was invited back for one last celebratory runout following his retirement from international football in the wake of defeat in the 2026 World Cup final.
He did retire once before, of course. In 2016, having suffered heartbreak in a major international final for the third year in a row, adding to the 2007 Copa América runner-up finish, Messi was seemingly done.
“This is tough and a difficult time,” he said after the Copa América Centenario final defeat to Chile. “The first thing that comes to my mind and that I have thought is that the end has come for me and our team. It has been four finals – [international success] just wasn’t for me unfortunately. I looked for it, and wanted it so badly, but it didn’t happen for me.
“I think [international retirement] is best for everyone, firstly for me and for a lot of people that wish this. The team has ended for me, a decision made. I tried many times [to win something with Argentina] and I leave without being able to obtain it.”
Fortunately, about six weeks later following a national campaign urging him to change his mind, Messi confirmed he wasn’t quitting. Another 10 years with the national team would follow, and what a time it ultimately proved to be.
But no, this isn’t another international retirement U-turn. Having finally enjoyed considerable international success, not to mention earning more caps (208 after Tuesday’s game) and scoring more goals (125) for Argentina than anyone, Messi no longer has anything to prove to anyone.
Given what we’ve seen Argentina achieve since 2021, the barren spell that coincided with the first 16 years of Messi’s 21-year international career feels like something from an alternate reality.
Copa América final defeats in 2007, 2015 and 2016 were on top of the 1-0 extra-time loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup decider.
And it wasn’t as if there was a huge amount of promise for Argentina immediately following Messi’s 2016 U-turn.
Debacle is the word that probably best sums up Argentina’s participation at the 2018 World Cup. They were poor in qualifying, reports of a player mutiny stirred relentlessly after a 3-0 loss to Croatia on Matchday 2, and then they were dumped out by France in the round of 16 (admittedly, they did run Les Bleus close in an instant classic in Kazan).
Messi took time away once again after Russia 2018. It was a difficult period for Argentina, who parted ways with Jorge Sampaoli as coach and appointed his assistant in his place. It was a widely unpopular decision that Diego Maradona infamously slammed in his characteristically fervent manner.
“He’s a great guy, but he can’t even direct traffic,” Maradona told Clarín. “How can we give the Argentine national team to him? Are we all crazy?”
He was, of course, talking about Lionel Scaloni, who quite plausibly doesn’t know how to direct traffic, and it’s highly likely he never has. But you know what he’s done a pretty good job of directing? The Argentine national team.
Scaloni – and Pablo Aimar – seemingly did enough to convince Messi his absence needn’t be permanent, and what a curious quirk of fate this turned out to be, given Scaloni arguably only got the job because he was an easy and cheap option. Seven years on, he’s the one Argentina coach to win the World Cup and multiple Copa América titles – and it’s fair to say Messi was key to all those successes.
Scaloni is also the Argentina coach Messi has played for the most (79 caps), and that feels symbolic.
Where Scaloni has excelled is in creating a team who maximise Messi’s influence at the top end of the pitch without needing him to muck in off the ball like others, allowing him to focus on what he does best. The rest of the team pick up the slack by working that bit harder, but it’s dirty work that so many of them seem to relish doing, like it’s an honour to do the jobs deemed beneath (or wasted on) Messi.
That might not sound like a particularly kind appraisal of Messi’s teamwork attributes, but it’s hard to argue Scaloni’s recipe didn’t work. And those famous images of the Argentina team walking out to warm up at the 2026 World Cup, looking like Messi was leading his own personal militia, certainly supports the idea they were all in on it.
Maja Hitij – FIFA/FIFA via Getty ImagesAnd why wouldn’t they be? After consecutive Copa América wins either side of glory at Qatar 2022 – their first World Cup triumph since 1986 – and a run to the final at this summer’s World Cup, Argentina have enjoyed the kind of success they’d not seen for generation, maybe longer.
While no player has played in more men’s World Cup matches than Messi (34) and he shares the record for most editions played in (six), much of his legacy in the tournament will be linked inextricably to the last two.
Of his 33 World Cup goal involvements, a tournament record, 22 came across the 2022 and 2026 campaigns. His 10 en route to glory four years ago was the joint most at Qatar 2022, while only Kylian Mbappé (14) bettered his 12 in North America.
Linked to that, Messi did briefly break the record for most World Cup goals in tournament history when he reached 18 with a double against Austria this year to move past Miroslav Klose – though his final total of 21 was one short of Mbappé’s 22.
Messi’s output this summer was also helped by him scoring in nine successive World Cup matches, a run stretching back to the successful 2022 campaign in Qatar and a tournament record.
He then set another record when he was named in Argentina’s lineup for the decider, becoming the first player to start three men’s World Cup finals (2014, 2022 and 2026), with Cafu the only other player to even feature in three.
Qatar 2022 was obviously the most significant, though. This success, and his immense influence on it, also aided Messi’s case in the years-long (and perhaps tiresome) ‘GOAT’ debate. While not something that can be settled definitively, a lack of glory with Argentina had for so long been the only stick critics could beat him with.
When Copa América success in 2021 wasn’t quite enough to satisfy certain people, who’d point to the fact that the likes of Pelé and Maradona had won the World Cup, Messi eventually got there in 2022 and played the role of Argentina’s inspiration.
That was his final frontier, and while it may not have made the 2026 failure any easier to take, it ensured a bulletproof legacy nonetheless.
The significance of Scaloni’s impact here shouldn’t be understated. A host of coaches had tried and failed to attain international titles that a football powerhouse like Argentina should be winning when they can call upon a talent as special as Messi. It’s also not outrageous to suggest many of the teams Messi was a part of prior to Scaloni’s arrival boasted more individual talent.
With that in mind, Tuesday’s game will serve as a reminder that Argentina are heading into an entirely new era, one slightly clouded by the uncertainty of what they can achieve without Messi. An unmistakable element of this era of Argentina success has been to ensure their talisman could finally move on having enjoyed some international glory, but Messi’s contributions haven’t been those of a token squad member; he remained easily their best player until his final match.
So, will they falter and fail to adapt without his creative ingenuity and decisiveness, or can the collective work ethic and unity cultivated during this period be enough to sustain them?
For now, though, it’s time for Argentina to celebrate and appreciate what they’ve had and what he’s achieved for them because there’s no guarantee it’ll ever be as good as this again.
Argentina had already won the lottery once before with Maradona; it’ll surely be a while yet before they strike gold a third time. Luckily, Messi provided them with memories to last a lifetime.
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