Argentina great Lionel Messi has announced his retirement from international football, saying it was a decision that “hurt” but “the time has come”.
The 39-year-old, who captained Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar in 2022, has scored 125 goals in 207 appearances, making him the country’s all-time leading scorer and most-capped player.
In a statement, Messi said he has given everything to the national side but now has “nothing left to give”.
He added: “Time is running short, chapters come to a close, and this is one that hurts me deeply.
“I love, have loved, and will always love being part of the national team.
“I’ve given it my all, I have nothing left to give, and besides, there are some really great young players coming through behind me who deserve their chance.”
Earlier in August, Messi said he was considering his future in football after the death of his father, Jorge, who died aged 68 following a a long illness.
The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner said he wrote his retirement message on 21 July, two days after Argentina lost to Spain in this summer’s World Cup final.
He added on Instagram on Monday: “Today, after what happened with my dad, I’m even more convinced than before.”
His career will continue at club level with Major League Soccer team Inter Miami, where he has a contract that runs to the end of the 2028 season.
Messi made his debut for Argentina in 2005 as a 63rd-minute substitute in a 2-1 friendly win over Hungary. However, he was shown a straight red card less than a minute later, after he swung his arm and his elbow connected with full-back Vilmos Vanczak.
Despite his tough start on the international stage, Messi went on to become one of the all-time greats, winning the World Cup and two Copa America titles with Argentina.
He is the second-highest goalscorer in World Cup history, with 21, behind France’s Kylian Mbappe (22), and second for goals in all internationals (125) behind his great contemporary and rival, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (146).
Messi first retired from international football in 2016 before reversing his decision.
That followed a defeat by Chile in the Copa America final, in which he missed a penalty in the shootout as Argentina lost a fourth major final in nine years.
Messi scored eight goals and registered four assists at this summer’s World Cup.
He took his career assists tally to 12 in World Cups, of which 10 have come in the knockout rounds. No other player on record has more than eight in total.
“Thank you for all the love over the past 20 years,” he added in his message, addressing supporters. “I’m going to miss hearing you from the pitch so much.
“Now I’ll be just one of you, always cheering and supporting from the sidelines.
“I’m leaving with the peace of mind and pride of having given you, together with my team-mates, moments we’d only dreamed of.
“It was incredible to have experienced this with you all. I love you!”
In the race between athlete and time, there is only ever one winner.
Messi has pushed that defeat date back for a long, long time now. But I think maybe two things hastened it a little bit.
One is the recent death of his father and the other is – although it was 1-0 on the scoresheet – the World Cup final defeat by Spain. The distance between the two sides was so, so large.
You could see Messi, as he looked around the stadium almost thinking, “I don’t think I can go through this again”.
What memories he has given us. This little man has been a part of my life for 21 and a half years – but it had to end sometime and that day is today.
Could Messi move back to Newell’s Old Boys to finish his career? I think there are two problems there.
One is moving his family back to the city of Rosario. It is a little bit provincial, and there are problems with violence there. True, his old mate Angel di Maria has done it with Rosario Central without too many problems. But I think Messi would worry about taking his family back into a goldfish bowl.
The other is that the level of football might not attract him quite so much. It could happen for just a few games, as a kind of romantic end to his career. He has talked about it plenty of times in the past. But I imagine Inter Miami might be the end.
Who knows? He will stop playing when he feels like it. If he doesn’t feel like going on until the end of 2028, he could knock it on the head before then.
We will have to see. Inter Miami fans are the lucky ones. They will get the last drops of this little man’s genius.
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