At last, the dreadful day has come for football fans as Lionel Messi announces his retirement from international football. It’s been a career of extraordinary achievements. 474 La Liga goals for Barcelona and 125 goals for Argentina! His control on the ball, the ability to find goals in the final third, and the ability to put his teammates through on goal. A complete footballer by all means.
But Messi wouldn’t have been the big name he is today if he had not won the World Cup four years ago in Qatar. The biggest parameter that is used to judge international footballers is not how many leagues they have won or how many goals they have scored in those triumphs. What matters is whether or not they have won a World Cup. Thanks to his World Cup performances, in Qatar and in North America, he is surely going out as one of the greatest to ever play the game, if not the greatest.
There was a time when Messi was considered only a top-league player because he had no World Cup trophy to speak of. Believe it or not, he had no Copa America to boast of either. For a very large part of his career, he was vying with Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal for the tag of the world’s best footballer, and when the latter won the Euros in 2016, he had taken a massive stride ahead of Messi. As the Argentine approached the mid-30s, it was understood that he had achieved all he could and that he was going to retire only as a club great. But destiny had other ideas.
Deep Dive
What was Lionel Messi's reason for retiring from international football?
How did Messi's retirement impact his legacy in football?
What achievements marked Lionel Messi's international football career?
Post 2020, things started to change for Messi. The very next year, he won his first Copa America. But Ronaldo was still ahead as compared to the Euros, the Copa America is considered a lesser championship on account of many lesser teams featuring in it. Questions continued to hover over him.
{{/usCountry}}Post 2020, things started to change for Messi. The very next year, he won his first Copa America. But Ronaldo was still ahead as compared to the Euros, the Copa America is considered a lesser championship on account of many lesser teams featuring in it. Questions continued to hover over him.
{{/usCountry}}However, the trophy floodgates had opened up for Messi with the Copa win -- as it turned out later. In the 2022 World Cup, he scored seven goals and provided three assists as the South American team won their first ‘big’ trophy in 36 years. Messi’s performance in the final against red-hot favourites France was particularly remarkable. He scored two goals to overcome the Kylian Mbappe-fuelled opposition. Ronaldo was upstaged at last. It was not the end of trophies for Messi though: one more would come two years later as Argentina successfully defended their Copa America title. Although he didn’t have much success in front of the goal, he remained a pivotal and inspiring figure.
Earlier this year in the 2026 World Cup, Messi, at the ripe age of 39, continued to enthrall until they met Spain in the final. They lost the final but Messi ended the tournament with 8 goals and four assists. With 22 goals, he finished as the second-highest goalscorer in World Cup history, just a goal behind Mbappe. By this time, Ronaldo was totally annihilated. Now the debate was whether he was the greatest ever to play the game. And there are many who truly believe that he is the greatest of all time.
Messi’s career is no different from any other great in any other sport. His career is defined by longevity. Defined by changing over time for the better. Prioritising the team over personal ambitions with the passage of time. His shocking announcement is going to sadden football fans, but then it was inevitable. His father’s passing earlier this month may have triggered his decision, in all honesty. But that’s not important. What is important is that he served the beautiful game with utmost distinction. Football will never be the same without him.