Tearful Farewell in Buenos Aires: Messi Ends Era With Goal, Two Assists on Final Argentina Appearance

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina now faces a reality once considered impossible: a national side devoid of soccer legend Lionel Messi.

On Tuesday, the 39-year-old said goodbye to international competition after 21 years, 126 goals, two Copa América titles, and a World Cup title, netting a penalty and providing two assists in a 3-0 win over Benin. A standard exhibition against the West African side transformed into an emotional occasion this soccer-obsessed nation had long dreaded.

“It feels like an era is ending, knowing he won’t play for the national team anymore,” said Valentino Ruso, 17, who was heading to a friend’s house in Buenos Aires to watch the game. “I’m sad. I think everyone is upset today. He will be missed.”

Argentines shared a complicated, often harsh dynamic with the reserved youth who departed Rosario at 13 for Barcelona’s youth academy. As he became a global icon of near-mythical proportions, his fellow countrymen adored and castigated him, sometimes doubting his commitment to his homeland and accusing him of indifference.

Yet by the conclusion of his luminous international career, his dedication to Argentina was beyond dispute, as was Argentina’s devotion to its most celebrated export. His victories repeatedly affirmed the country’s potential for greatness amid decades of political and economic turmoil.

“Argentines often say, ‘Thank God I was born at a time when I could experience the miracle of watching Messi play,’” said Andrés Rabinovich, a University of Chicago scholar researching soccer’s place in Argentine culture. “It’s hard living in Argentina. Soccer is often one of the few things that offers you some respite, some joy.”

For years, the public speculated on when and how Messi would depart the international stage. His Aug. 31 announcement, made weeks after the World Cup final defeat to Spain, triggered an outpouring of thanks and sorrow—even as Messi continues to star in Major League Soccer with Inter Miami.

“I don’t know if there has ever been a love story between a player and a nation as great as the one you built,” his teammate Rodrigo De Paul wrote on Instagram.

The Argentine federation turned Tuesday’s 208th match into a national farewell dubbed “the last tango.” Over 85,000 tickets for Buenos Aires’ largest stadium sold out in 90 minutes, with original prices of $60-$300 later reselling for more than $2,500. Members of the 1978, 1986, and 2022 World Cup-winning squads returned to honor him.

When the match ended, Messi’s eyes shimmered as his teammates surrounded him, applauding. A deafening chorus of “Olé, olé, olé, olé, Messi, Messi” rose from the crowd as tens of thousands of fans jumped, sang, and bowed in reverence. A midfield banner declared him the “Eternal Captain.”

“Even through the worst moments we went through, I never stopped fighting, battling, giving everything I had, wanting to always be here,” Messi told the crowd, which erupted as though he had scored. “I love all of you, and I will miss all of you. I am proud to be Argentine.”

Winning Over His Own Country

In the 2000s and 2010s, Messi collected club silverware and won fans from Barcelona to Bangladesh, yet a major tournament with his own nation remained elusive.

Where observers saw supernatural ability, some at home saw an outsider who had never played professionally in Argentina and appeared to crumble under expectation. Local supporters chanted “Diego, Diego,” invoking 1986 World Cup hero Diego Maradona and highlighting an unmet standard. Messi’s quiet demeanor, unlike Maradona’s bold swagger, fed doubts about his patriotism.

After Argentina lost a third straight final in 2016, Messi briefly quit the national team.

“There’s some resentment by the people that stay in Argentina for those who leave, this sense of, ‘They think they’re better than us,’” said Rabinovich, who identifies with Messi as a fellow teenage migrant. He moved to Canada during the 2001 economic crisis, around the same time Messi left for Europe. “The old-school Argentines would say, ‘Diego is the Argentine. Messi is soft, a little Spanish boy.’”

The turning point arrived in 2021, when Argentina defeated Brazil to win the Copa América, South America’s championship, for the first time in 28 years. Messi fell to the pitch as his teammates, ecstatic, rushed to embrace him. The player long accused of caring too little could not stop crying.

“Winning clearly disarmed his critics. That’s how soccer works in Argentina,” said Diego Murzi, a sports sociologist at Conicet, Argentina’s national scientific research council. “Criticism of things off the field goes hand in hand with defeats on it.”

The World Cup win in Qatar the following year solidified his legacy as a national hero. Messi secured the one prize that had escaped him, and millions flooded the streets in shared euphoria, chanting his name and wearing his No. 10.

“I’ll never forget it. I’d never experienced anything like that, being out there with everyone, celebrating together,” said Antonia Correa, 70, a kiosk owner, recalling the event while waiting for a bus in Buenos Aires on Tuesday. “We saw that he wasn’t just an extraordinary player, but an excellent human being.”

Recently, newspapers have buzzed with nostalgic homages, and murals celebrating Messi have appeared across the country. La Nación published “Immortal,” a documentary on his final World Cup campaign, plus a 196-page career edition. Since June, a 26-meter (85-foot) statue of Messi kneeling with the World Cup trophy has loomed over motorists in Patagonia. On Tuesday, the Obelisk lit up in the flag’s blue and white, and news sites live-blogged the Benin friendly as if it were a World Cup final.

A Jersey Without a Successor

Nationwide, fans who grew up watching Messi, much like their parents watched Maradona, have covered themselves in tattoos honoring the star, including portraits of him kissing the World Cup trophy. Before the farewell, Messi’s No. 10 had no designated heir, with coach Lionel Scaloni saying the choice would be delayed.

“I don’t think we’ll have somebody like him again, somebody with that sort of enduring power,” said Pablo Brescia, a University of South Florida professor studying Argentine culture and soccer. “Like Maradona, he’ll be unique — a figure that can’t be repeated.”

Messi’s Inter Miami contract runs through the 2028 season. But the ritual of watching him carry Argentina’s hopes and worries into every match is over.

“Watching Messi play, you felt anything could happen,” Murzi said. “I’ve seen him do things that I don’t think I’ll ever see another player do.”

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