Farewell Lionel Messi, the genius who made Argentina dream again

The boots had been customised for the occasion, inscribed with the words “El ultimo tango”. Win or lose, it would be Lionel Messi’s last dance on the international stage.

Sitting there forlornly at the end of the World Cup final, taking off those boots in a gesture that looked highly symbolic, choking back the tears as Argentina’s supporters serenaded him, he knew it was over.

He continues to illuminate Major League Soccer on a weekly basis, scoring another four goals for Inter Miami against CF Montreal on Sunday evening, but Messi announced on Monday that his time on the international stage had come to an end. After 21 years, 207 appearances and 125 goals for Argentina, he said it was “the right moment” to leave the international stage.

He knew it at the time. He said he wrote his statement on July 21, two days after defeat by Spain in the World Cup final, but had spent the past six weeks reflecting further as well as taking the time to grieve the death of his father, Jorge. “Today, after what happened with my dad,” he said, “I’m even more convinced of this decision than before.”

He said he was leaving the stage “with peace and pride”, secure in the knowledge that he and his team-mates had given themselves and the Argentinian people moments and experiences — winning the Copa America in 2021 and 2024 and, best of all, the World Cup in 2022 — they had spent their lives dreaming of. 

He also spoke about pain. He used the verb doler (to hurt) on three occasions, referencing the pain “deep in my soul” that the decision had brought him, recalling a “beautiful but difficult journey” with his national team, and touching on the bad moments as well as the “unforgettable memories and moments”. Ultimately, he said, “I gave everything I had — and I don’t have anything more to give”.

It looked that way at times during this summer’s World Cup. He produced so many thrilling moments, but there were also periods when games were passing him by, when his team-mates and supporters looked to him in desperation and, for a time, with the clock ticking down, inspiration appeared not to be coming… until, dramatically, it did.

So many times en route to the World Cup final, Messi seemed to summon something from deep inside him. The goals flowed freely for him in the group stage (three against Algeria, two against Austria, one as a substitute against Jordan), but perhaps even those memories will be eclipsed by those of his match-turning contributions from losing positions against Egypt in the round of 16 and England in the semi-final, demonstrating a force of personality that he was at times accused of lacking earlier in his international career.

In the final against Spain at MetLife Stadium, that magic touch deserted him — or, more accurately, the opportunity passed him by. To perform the way he had done at his sixth World Cup was a source of wonder. To expect yet another match-winning performance at the age of 39 against a far superior team, on a day when most of his team-mates looked more interested in roughing up their opponents than trying to establish any kind of rhythm, proved too much to ask of even Messi.

There was no happy ending in New Jersey. But Messi had already done it all. His international career, dating back to a friendly against Hungary in August 2005, can be split into two halves: the first half bringing so many frustrations and disappointments, defeats in three consecutive finals (two Copa America and one World Cup), struggling to replicate his irresistible Barcelona form, which led him hastily and briefly to announce his retirement from the Argentina team in 2016; the second full of highlights as, after a change of heart, he learned to shoulder the burden of a nation’s fervent hopes and expectations, leading Argentina to victory at the Copa America in 2021 and 2024, either side of his crowning glory at the 2022 World Cup.

Just imagine if he had stuck with his initial decision to retire from international duty in 2016. “For me, the national team is over,” he told reporters after missing a penalty in the shootout defeat by Chile at the Copa America final, also at MetLife. “It’s been (defeat in) four finals. It (success with Argentina) was the thing I wanted most, but I couldn’t get it. The decision is taken. There will be no going back.”

To that point, playing for Argentina looked like a trial for Messi. There were endless unflattering comparisons with the great Diego Maradona, another genius, whose ebullient personality — flaws and all — resonated with the Argentinian public in a way the introverted Messi did not. Maradona thrived under that burden when he led the albiceleste to glory at the 1986 World Cup. Messi’s World Cup and Copa America experiences had promised so much joy but had brought only heartache, hence his initial decision to call time on his international career.

An outpouring of support from fans and team-mates, as well as overtures from Argentina’s then-president Mauricio Macri, coaxed him out of retirement. But the 2018 World Cup final brought more frustration and more criticism, not least from Maradona. “We shouldn’t deify Messi any longer,” Maradona said later that year. “He’s a great player, but he’s not a leader. It’s useless trying to make a leader out of a man who goes to the toilet 20 times before a game.”

That context is what makes Messi’s achievements in the second half of his international career all the more remarkable. Leadership might not have come naturally to him, but he grew into the talisman figure that Argentina — as a nation, as well as a team — needed him to be. Lionel Scaloni built a more solid, cohesive, structured side and Messi learned how to embrace the unique pressure of following in Maradona’s footsteps. From the moment he won that first Copa America title in 2021, one success led to another and then another.

Winning the World Cup in 2022, at the fifth time of asking, was his crowning glory. He was 35, beyond the peak of his powers, but his performances in Qatar — under the threat of elimination against Mexico and Poland in the group stage and then under severe pressure against Australia, the Netherlands in the Croatia in the knockout stage — were thrilling even before the final against France, where he scored twice as Argentina prevailed in a penalty shootout. At that point, he fell to his knees and looked to the heavens in thanks. He told reporters afterwards it was “the trophy I wanted all my life”, “my dream from childhood”.

He had long been recognised as one of the greatest players of all time, scaling heights that perhaps only Pele and Maradona, as the undisputed leaders of their respective generations, could claim to have matched. Winning the World Cup removed the one caveat that could have been held against his career, but perhaps his former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola put it best when he said he had already regarded Messi as the greatest; winning the World Cup changed nothing in that respect.

Guardiola called Messi’s 2022 World Cup success “the final achievement of an incredible career”. But there was more: an eighth Ballon d’Or, a second Copa America triumph, a second Ligue 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain and a succession of trophies (the Leagues Cup, the Supporters’ Shield, the MLS Cup) with Inter Miami. For a time this summer, he looked to lead Argentina to a second World Cup title. As for Maradona in 1990, that proved to be a bridge just too far. In both cases, the tears flowed after the final.

For Messi, the final World Cup unfolded against a backdrop of deepening anxiety over his father, who died on August 8 after a long illness.

In the statement he published on social media, Messi wrote about his father urging him to play in one last World Cup — “and just days before it started, that’s when you took a turn for the worse”. He talked of reaching the dressing room, after every game at the World Cup, and finding that the usual message from his father was not waiting for him.

“That’s when I realised how bad the situation was,” he said. “Even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about going as far as possible, to give you time to watch a game. We made it to the final, and you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it so I could bring the trophy to you. I couldn’t. This time I tried to push past my physical limits, but I couldn’t.”

In that statement, he sounded bereft, wondering how he would continue with his career. He spoke of being “so close to the end”, distraught that the final stages of his journey as a player would be made without his father and biggest supporter at his side.

He will carry on playing for Inter Miami, who are well placed to reach the MLS play-offs once more, but the tone of Monday’s statement raised some doubt as to whether he intends to see out a contract that runs to the end of 2028. He said there was “not much time left” and that “chapters are coming to a close”. They didn’t sound like the words of someone certain about playing on for another two years beyond this season.

For Messi, the last five years have brought a succession of goodbyes: from Barcelona, from Europe and now from the Argentina national team. This one hurt him deeply, he said, but he feels it is the right time to leave the international stage. After el ultimo tango, thoughts turn to what will truly be his last dance in MLS.

Whether sooner or a little later, the time will come for him to remove his boots for good. As much as he might appear intent on demonstrating otherwise, those feet cannot keep dancing forever.