Lionel Messi announces retirement from Argentina national team

End of an era, this hit more than I expected even though we kind of knew it was coming.

Thank you Leo for all the moments of joy you gave to us all, you will always be remembered as the best ever to wear the jersey. We love you and will appreciate and cherish you forever!

adios messi , i was very lucky to watch you live in the flesh for argentina ! thank you for all the joy you gave us , i doubt we will see another you ..today i feel very sad because the last page has turned on your illustrious career for the albiceleste . . Thank you !

Thank you Leo, for keeping the beautiful game alive for so long.

Cant believe my childhood has ended today. Leo pls even if u retires stay close to football always and thanks for everything

Thank You BOSS for making our dreams come true, thank you for ALL.THE MEMORIES, thank you for the fight passion and grit, thank you for the great times and bad, Like Maradona before you, we will always love you.
As expected, now we start fresh, younger faster and talented Albiceleste🇦🇷💙✊️

Thank you Leo..for the all happiness you gave to us since 17 years old…I watched you from there till end.. tears 💔

The child inside me feels like it died today.

Seeing Messi in my favourite national team jersey has been literally everything a fan could have ever asked for. Thank you, Messiah…

Some chapters don’t just end — they take a piece of us with them.

Sharing what I put in my FB post before the finals..:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/19FMDpsD1Y/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Tomorrow, it will come to an end.

My love for Argentina began in 1986, Like so many others, I followed El Pibe de Oro and believed I would never see his kind again.

Then, in 2005, after dinner one evening, a British journalist spoke of a teenager. Not another “next Maradona,” he insisted, but really special. Something rare. So, I started watching the U-20 World Cup, the next day.

And for the next twenty years, I never really looked away.

I have watched him in crowded stadiums and quiet living rooms, in finals that stopped the world and friendlies that meant little to anyone else. I have watched through the seasons of my own life—through change, success, disappointment, uncertainty, and joy.

And somehow, there he always was.

On dark days, when hope felt distant and the world seemed heavier than usual, I would turn on the television and watch a small man remind me that beauty still existed. That imagination still mattered. That, impossible things could still happen.

Not because he won.
But because of the way he played.
Like a poet unconcerned with the score of the poem.

There was resilience in every setback. Grace in every victory. Silence in every roar of the crowd. And woven through it all, an unmistakable kind of magic—the sort that appears once in a generation and leaves before you are ready.

I wanted to be in Qatar in 2022. I couldn’t.
I could have been there this time, but I didn’t believe history would grant us another chapter.

Yet here we are.
On the edge of what feels like the final page.

And perhaps that is why it hurts a little already.

Because endings are the price we pay for having witnessed something extraordinary.

In an age of highlights, reels, and endless scrolling, I hope people will remember that greatness was never contained in the clips. It lived in the spaces between them—in the patience, the persistence, the failures, the tears, the comebacks, and the thousands of moments that became a life’s work.

Whatever happens tomorrow, the result will fade.
The memories will not.
The slaloms through impossible crowds.
The impossible passes.
The quiet humility.

One day the stadiums will empty, the boots will be hung up, and the game will move on as it always does.

But somewhere, for those of us lucky enough to have watched, there will forever be a green rectangle illuminated by a little No. 10, moving through time as if gravity were merely a suggestion.

And every time we remember, for a brief moment, the world will feel a little lighter.

This was never just football.
It was joy. It was wonder. It was hope.
Gracias, Leo.

VAMOS⚽️💙🤍 🇦🇷

We extend our gratitude to Lionel Messi, whose contributions will forever be etched in Argentina’s history. His international career has been marked by unparalleled success.

Such a sad day! I’m just grateful for how amazing Messi has been for all these years. And all that he has won for Argentina. It’s going to be strange watching the national team without him.

Thank you for the glorious memories. You persevered and finally delivered happiness to millions of Argentines and Albiceleste supporters worldwide. Much Gracias El Capitan del Muchachos.

Now let the new era begin. I hope Scaloni takes the same honorable road. I think he too has given his all and I don’t think he has much more to offer, as we saw at the WC. With the new generation of players, the team needs a new approach and a new mindset.

Thank you so much for everything Messi.