Lionel Messi closes an era in the Argentinian national team

“All’s well that ends well, still the fine’s the crown; Whate’er the course, the end is the renown.” – William Shakespeare

“Queda poco y se van cerrando etapas y esta es una que me duele mucho,” translated from Spanish as “There is little time left and stages are closing off, and this is one that hurts me a lot,” set the stage for the announcement that Messi was closing what has been the most cherished part of his long and successful career. It wasn’t always easy. His departure from FC Barcelona, a club he loved and never sought to leave, was followed by his exit from Paris St. Germain (PSG) after only two seasons, where a segment of fans never seemed to accept him. That wasn’t as tough as feeling rejected by his own people. 

The love was always real, flowing from fans to the player and back, though the relationship was, at times, rocky. He spent most of his adult career at the Catalan club, but he kept his promise, as he told Diario La Capital at age 13 while playing for his Rosario home team, Newell’s Old Boys: “My dream is to play for Argentina.” And he did; by age 18, he earned his first accolade with the “celeste y blanca,” the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup. In that tournament, he ran the table, winning both the Golden Ball (best player) and the Golden Boot (top scorer).

Two years earlier, he was left off the team for the U17 Finland World Cup by then-coach Hugo Tocalli, who knew virtually nothing about the wonderkid from Argentina, who was then playing in FC Barcelona’s youth teams. There were also stories about a VHS tape sent to AFA just a couple of weeks before the start of the cup, with the team already packing. “After the semifinal loss, the Spanish team’s chef confronted Tocalli: ‘If you’d brought the kid from Barcelona, you would’ve been champions.’ Tocalli, stunned: ‘Do you mean Messi?’ The chef: ‘If you know him, how could you not pick him?'”

Earlier that year, he was seen being carried on Ronaldinho’s shoulders after finishing “Dinho’s” pass for his first club goal in La Liga’s top flight. The Brazilian playmaker and 2005 Ballon d’Or winner would later, in a January interview with FourFourTwo, say, “I don’t even feel I’m the best at Barça. I know I’m important to the team, but the best… no.” Since 2003, Spain had been aggressively pursuing him; former national team coach Vicente Del Bosque admitted, “I tried everything to get Messi to play for Spain…” Messi had completely fallen off the Argentine youth football radar after his move to Barcelona at age 13. 

AFA (Argentina Football Association) was quick to catch up. It organized a friendly in 2004 just to get him on the books ahead of the 2005 youth World Cup. It turned out there was no reason to panic, as Del Bosque explained in a December 2022 interview with Radio Marca, “Lionel refused because of the love he has for his country.” By the end of that year, his trophy room was starting to fill up. 

What followed was an epic story of trials, heartbreak, and criticism from a culture not unfamiliar with character cannibalism, one that praised him abroad but chewed him up at home. “He doesn’t feel the shirt,” “he is cold-chested,” “caves in the big moments,” “he only cares about Barcelona,” and the worst one, “he is no Maradona.” Much was lost: two Copa América finals in 2015 and 2016, the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil, and two lackluster team performances at the World Cups in South Africa in 2010 and in Russia in 2018. 

There is an old story about the knight who was mocked for being seen in a peasant’s cart, despite his victories, duels won, and acts of gallantry; this shame follows him until, after many trials, he proves himself and the court has no choice but to retitle him. Messi’s trials — lost finals, turmoil at the AFA, a decade of ‘he’s not enough’ — culminated in the 2021 Copa America win in the archrival’s yard in Brazil, the exhibition against Italy in La Finalísima in June 2022, and ultimately the 2022 Qatar World Cup, with another Copa America in the US two years later for good measure. 

Messi’s career is far more complex than tales of kings and princesses; Messi endured a labyrinth of club intrigues, corruption, deception, smear campaigns, and bad press, even in the meme-driven social media influencer sphere. His success built an economic fortune that ran into legal boundaries with the Spanish tax system. His brand has surpassed what any athlete has ever accomplished. 

That success had to navigate the turbulent waters of the legal troubles facing both Barcelona FC and the AFA, including an incident in which Messi was informed that the training grounds staff at the Ezeiza training complex hadn’t been paid for 3 months. He made one phone call, and the money appeared within hours. It wasn’t the first time. In 2022, he shared his World Cup bonus equally with everyone on the staff, from the cook to the gardener. 

If you aren’t yet convinced of the story’s literary grandeur, consider that Diego Armando Maradona, widely regarded as the best Argentine player in history and one of the greatest players of all time, said in private, months before his death in November 2020, according to his former press secretary, “Para mi Lio va a salir campeón cuando yo no esté” (For me, Lio is going to be world champion when I’m no longer here). Diego had a complex relationship with Messi, publicly calling him out: “He is a phenomenon, but not a leader.” What a testament from the player known as “D10S”: He is going to win it, and I’m going to miss it!

The story turns almost like a Shakespeare play, with even the spirits speaking and doing their part, because everybody says Diego was there and saw him become a champion in Qatar. In this case, it might have been the same Maradona who could have said the line used in the title from William Shakespeare’s “All’s Well That Ends Well,” Act 4, Scene 4: “All’s well that ends well, still the fine’s the crown; Whate’er the course, the end is the renown.” And just like the play, the end wasn’t ideal; Messi put on a hero’s fight to get Argentina into the final, with goals, assists, sacrifice, and pure leadership. It’s indisputable that he gave it all, and his fans walked away with a sense of acceptance that just his undying commitment had to be good enough. The play ends with the public completely surrendered to him despite it all. 

Winning, sorting obstacle after obstacle, the Growth Hormone Deficiency injections, moving away from home at such a young age, the critics, the rivals, the injuries, and career ups and downs, except for his greatest one, playing in this last World Cup when his dad was severely sick in a hospital; Jorge had never missed a game and had pushed Lio hard to not worry about him and concentrate on playing and winning.

By the time of the Argentina-Spain game on July 19, he was too sick to even watch it. Lio flew to Argentina after the final to find his dad so weak and confused, believing Argentina had lost on penalties; he died on August 8. His retirement note from international football was written two days after the final, on July 21, and published on Instagram on August 31st. He had been back in action with his club since August 12; he knows his dad wanted him to play football, and as long as he can compete, he will. 

It is said that “You’re as good as your last job” (Laurence Olivier, 1986), and what a job it was. If we widen the lens, what amazing five years he has given to Argentina; what a way to close his international career. The snub by FIFA, denying him the MVP, was his last medal. “What more does Messi have to do?” cried Ibrahimovic on live television. I joked to a friend, “Did he headbutt anybody?” Thinking about it today, I think he did; he refused to go quietly and be the tournament’s marketing footnote. Messi aimed for the top, even at 39.

From “The boy who was never enough” to the “player from another planet,” Messi has won it all, lifted the trophies, and set numerous records for goals and assists for club and country. His national team career might be over, but the player is not. Lionel Messi is still swinging hard in the MLS with his team, Inter Miami. He just scored four goals in Inter’s 7-1 win against Montreal on August 29, 2026, and currently leads the MLS Golden Boot race with 18 goals. 

Every player has a day when he will hang his boots; that day isn’t here yet. Now it’s up to us, the football fans, to enjoy this time, be happy we lived in his era, and let him finally be that boy who just wants to play football, because, as Josep Guardiola says, “there has never been, and there will never be, another player like Lionel Messi.”  

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