Football

Lionel Messi’s final game in an Argentina shirt arrives on Tuesday, Oct. 6, in a match against Benin.

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While all kinds of stories have been produced (including several of our own below) to describe Messi’s impact on the international game, we wanted to get the perspective from his home country.

So we asked our Sporting News colleagues based in Argentina: What did Messi’s legacy mean to Argentina? And even more important: What did Messi’s legacy mean to you?

Not surprisingly, even with all of his magnificent goals and moments for La Albiceleste, it was more than just a World Cup title — as significant as that was. 

As our Assistant Managing Editor Leandro Fernández put it «Argentina will never leave Messi, just as Messi will never leave Argentina.»

Here’s what his legacy has meant, in their words.

More on Messi:

• The 10 best goals of Messi’s Argentina career
• Where Messi’s goals, assists, caps rank for Argentina
• Messi on SN’s all-time international XI

The Argentine spirit

Lionel Messi achieved the impossible, and we are not talking about trophies: He began to be seen as Maradona just a decade after Maradona said goodbye to soccer.

But it wasn’t enough for him to be like Diego: In a country so deeply marked by the figure of its great idol, he managed to match him and, for many, to surpass him.

Although that was never his intention: He was just a boy (a man, today) who is happy playing soccer. And who has made millions of people happy, not only in his own country. Therein lies the greatest expression of his Argentine spirit: spreading joy with nothing more than a ball glued to his left foot.

— Senior Editor Mauricio Codocea

Tim Heitman-Imagn Images

A role model in every sense

Messi leaves the national team with a legacy that transcends the team itself. It goes beyond his goals, numerous records, and titles. It goes beyond having touched the sky with his hands at Qatar 2022 (even though that was a monumental achievement). Messi leaves the place that best represents him as the person who best represents us Argentines — far beyond what he achieved on a soccer field with a ball at his feet. 

Messi departs as an absolute role model in every sense. He leaves as the example everyone should follow. He leaves as an inspiration to anyone, having given his heart and soul to achieve his dreams. He leaves as someone who set aside the petty criticisms that might have stung him during those moments of collective criticism, who buried any potential grudges and looked forward, with the conviction of one who believes in himself and the confidence of knowing that he also needed others. He leaves as the embodiment of the idea that «we» can always achieve more than any single individual. 

Messi the player is leaving the Argentine national team, but Argentina will never leave Messi, just as Messi will never leave Argentina. And he takes with him on this journey the deepest gratitude this land has to offer: The people never forget those who made them happy. And the happiness Messi gave us has been as immeasurable as the memory that will live on forever in our hearts.

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— Assistant Managing Editor Leandro Fernández

A true generational figure

Lionel Messi not only led Argentina back to the top of the world — he also restored a privileged position that had seemed out of reach for years. With its victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, combined with its two Copa América titles, the Argentine national team reclaimed its status as South America’s top power — a title Brazil had taken from it.

His legacy stands in a league reserved for very few. Messi set the bar so high that any future comparison will inevitably be unfair: His name now belongs in the same hall of fame as those of Diego Maradona and Pelé — figures who transcended results, generations and borders.

— Senior Editor Mauro Mariani

Simply unforgettable

There’s little to add to everything that’s been said about Messi’s career, but perhaps one way to gauge his impact is through our own experiences. Twenty-two years later, I still remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I watched that friendly match between Argentina’s U-20 national team and their Paraguayan counterparts at a half-empty Argentinos Juniors stadium — now called the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

Not because of the game itself, of course, but because that afternoon, the No. 10 made his debut for Argentina. In all likelihood, something similar will happen two decades from now with this Tuesday’s friendly against an obscure Benin national team — this time because it will mark his farewell.

Our memory is selective, and by his mere presence, Messi transformed games we would have forgotten within hours into moments that will stay with us forever. Plain and simple: unforgettable.

— Content Producer Juan Estévez

A legacy beyond soccer

Lionel Messi’s legacy with the Argentine national team goes beyond soccer. It extends beyond tangible achievements like titles, victories and records. It even goes beyond the fanaticism that comes from having the greatest soccer player of all time. It’s about teaching resilience. That often you have to give your absolute all to achieve what you want so badly. That no matter how difficult it may seem, you have to keep trying so that, at the very least, you can be at peace with yourself. Being left with the question, “What would have happened if I’d kept fighting?” is much worse than a defeat on the field. The result is irrelevant if you give everything you have — and even more — for your convictions.

— Content Producer Renzo Desaunet

More than a superstar

For us, Lionel Messi is not just the best soccer player of this century, Argentina’s all-time leading scorer, or the star who led us to our third World Cup title and took us to two other finals.

He is an example of perseverance, humility, and staying true to his Argentine identity despite having lived almost his entire life outside the country; of the work ethic needed to constantly improve; and of the fact that the things that truly matter are achieved on the field, not off it.

For more than two decades, he could not have better represented the fantastic talent factory that is Argentina’s soccer fields, even though he received his final training in Barcelona.

He is more than just a sports superstar for Argentina; he is someone who managed to overcome every possible criticism and who today inspires a greater sense of unity and national pride than any other person or thing.

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— Content Producer Agustín Aboy