Lionel Messi prepares for his final match with the Argentine national team

Argentina is preparing to bid farewell to the legend Lionel Messi in what is called the “last tango” when the 2022 World Cup champion plays his last match in the team’s jersey.

This will be the focus of attention, as it includes the final arrival at the team camp and the final training session.

A party will be held to bid farewell to Messi after a career that lasted 21 years with the Argentine national team, when he faces the Benin national team in Buenos Aires on Tuesday evening (Wednesday morning GMT), and whoever remembers the poignant farewell moments and the tears that Messi shed when he left his beloved club Barcelona in 2021, can imagine the extent of the intense emotions that will accompany his farewell in Argentina.

Lionel Scaloni, coach of the Argentine national team, said: “From the moment he sets foot on the field of the Monumental Stadium, it will be an unforgettable day for everyone.”

Messi announced last August that he would stop playing internationally this year or retire from international football this year.

The 39-year-old said at the time: “It was a decision that hurt me deep in my soul and it still hurts me, but I realize that the time has come.”

The loss in the World Cup final, the accompanying end of the dream of maintaining the title, and the death of his father, Jorge, at the age of 68, left a deep impact on the soul of the world football legend, which prompted him to make this decision.

Unlike the first time he retired from international football in 2016, following another loss in a major tournament final, this time will be the actual end of his international career.

Scaloni, whose success story is closely linked to Messi's career, said: "There is a feeling of sadness that he will no longer be there, and not only from a football perspective."

Both Messi and Scaloni were in the Argentine squad participating in the World Cup in 2006, before Scaloni ended his career as a player in 2015. Since taking over as coach of the Argentine national team in 2018, Scaloni has succeeded in building a team centered around Messi, a team that won the Copa America title in 2021 and 2024, and the World Cup in 2022, and also reached the World Cup final again in the previous edition. Next 2026.

Scaloni said: “The Argentine national team will continue on its path, but we will definitely miss it.”

This team will miss Messi. He was its leader and at the same time one of it. His teammates were his fans and bodyguards, and the nation that loves football, which once loved Diego Maradona, has also fallen in love with Messi.

When Messi turns the page on his career with the Argentine national team, he will remain linked to a contract with Inter Miami that extends until the end of 2028, and it is expected that he will retire from football after that.

While a new era will begin for the Argentine fans who did not know Scaloni’s position on renewing his contract at the end of this year or not, Messi has already begun a new phase in his life, as he owns a small empire that includes a hotel chain, real estate investments, and two clubs in Spain.