Not for the first time, Lionel Messi is returning to the Argentina national team, but this week’s occasion will be one of completion and celebration rather than obligation. Messi will wear the Argentina shirt one last time in a friendly in Buenos Aires against Benin, having been invited back for a celebratory runout after his decision to retire from international football following the World Cup final.
Walking away is something he has done before. In 2016, after heartbreak in a major international final for the third year in a row, Messi appeared to be finished with Argentina following the Copa América Centenario final defeat to Chile. “This is tough and a difficult time,” he said. “The end has come for me and our team. It has been four finals – it just wasn’t for me unfortunately. I looked for it and wanted it so badly, but it didn’t happen. This is best for everyone – for me and for a lot of people that wish this. The team has ended for me, a decision made. I tried many times and I leave without being able to obtain it.”
About six weeks later, after a national campaign urging him to change his mind, Messi confirmed he was not quitting. Another 10 years with the national team followed, and what a time it proved to be. He would go on to win the World Cup and to earn more caps (208 after Tuesday’s game) and score more goals (125) for Argentina than anyone, leaving him with nothing left to prove to anyone.
Given what Argentina have achieved over the past five years, the 16 barren years of his international career can feel like something from an alternate reality. They lost Copa América finals in 2007, 2015 and 2016, as well as the 2014 World Cup final to Germany. Nor was there much immediate promise after his 2016 U-turn: Argentina’s 2018 World Cup was a debacle, with a poor qualifying campaign, reports of a player mutiny after a 3-0 group-stage defeat to Croatia, and elimination by France in the last 16 – though they did run the eventual champions close in an instant classic in Kazan.
Messi took time away once again after Russia 2018, a difficult period in which Argentina parted ways with Jorge Sampaoli as coach and appointed his assistant in his place. It was an unpopular decision that Diego Maradona attacked in characteristically earnest fashion. “He’s a great guy, but he can’t even direct traffic,” Maradona said. “How can we give the Argentina team to him? Are we all crazy?”
That assistant, of course, was Lionel Scaloni. Scaloni and Pablo Aimar seemingly did enough to convince Messi that his absence need not be permanent – a curious quirk of fate given that Scaloni reportedly only got the job because he was an easy and cheap option. Seven years on, he is the only Argentina coach to have won the World Cup and multiple Copa América titles, with Messi essential to all of those successes. Scaloni is also the Argentina coach Messi has played for the most, with 79 caps.
Scaloni has excelled at creating a team that maximises Messi’s influence at the top end of the pitch without needing him to muck in defensively. Other players pick up the slack by working that bit harder, and they seem to relish doing his dirty work as though it is an honour to help Messi focus on what he does best. The images of the players walking out to warm up at the 2026 World Cup, looking as though Messi was leading his own personal militia, support the idea that they were all in on it.
No player has played more men’s World Cup matches than Messi (34) and he shares the record for most editions played in (six), though much of his tournament legacy will be tied to the last two. Of his 33 World Cup goal involvements, a tournament record, 22 came in the 2022 and 2026 campaigns. His 10 goal involvements in Qatar four years ago were the joint most at that tournament, and only Kylian Mbappé (14) bettered his 12 in North America. Messi briefly broke the record for most World Cup goals in tournament history when he reached 18 with a double against Austria this year, moving past Miroslav Klose, although his final total of 21 was one short of Mbappé’s 22. He also scored in nine successive World Cup matches, a run stretching back to the successful 2022 campaign in Qatar and a tournament record, and he became 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. That success robbed his critics of the only stick they could beat him with – the argument, after Copa América success in 2021 was not quite enough for certain people, that 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. Argentina won consecutive Copa América titles either side of Qatar 2022 – their first World Cup triumph since 1986 – and reached the final of this summer’s World Cup.
Tuesday’s game will serve as a reminder that Argentina are entering a new era, one slightly clouded by the uncertainty of what they can achieve without Messi, who remained their best player until his final match. Whether they adapt without his creative ingenuity and decisiveness, or whether the collective work ethic and unity they have cultivated can sustain them, remains to be seen. For now, though, it is time for Argentina to celebrate what they have achieved with Messi, because there is no guarantee it will ever be as good as this again.