Lionel Messi's last international match: An era goes to the grave

Sometime in April 2004, a fax from the Argentine Football Association arrived at FC Barcelona's office. They wanted to take a look at this 17-year-old "Mecci" and officially called him now to the U20 national team's upcoming gathering.

Who was behind the misspelling does not tell the story, but "Mecci" - or Lionel Messi, as we more often call him - was completely unknown in his homeland at the time.

It is by no means so strange. He had already made an appearance in a friendly match for Barcelona's first team the year before, but it was in the fall of 2004 that things began to move in Catalonia.

From the collection with Argentina's U20 national team, there are no reports in the Argentine media, not even a photo has been managed to root out now that the country's greatest son is preparing for his last match in the national team shirt 22 years later.

The Argentine Football Association's facility in Ezeiza on the outskirts of Buenos Aires has undergone a major renovation since Leo Messi first set foot there. Since 2023, it bears his name. It is at the Predio Deportivo Lionel Andrés Messi that Argentina's men's national team is preparing for a friendly against Benin, a meeting completely devoid of interest beyond the historic farewell that will be said once and for all.

It's easy to get caught up in the parallel universe where Lionel Messi clings to his national team farewell from 2016. After yet another Copa America final loss, where he missed the penalty shootout against Chile, a distraught Lionel Messi tearfully declared:

- It's over with the national team for me, I've done everything I can.

He had just turned 29.

In Argentina, a massive campaign was launched to get him to change his mind. The teammates pleaded. Diego Maradona - who accused Leo Messi of lacking "leadership qualities" - appealed. The mayor of Buenos Aires unveiled a statue of Lionel Messi and urged supporters to show their love.

It's hard to imagine now, but while Lionel Messi triumphed season after season in Barcelona, ​​domestic opinion against him was critical to the point of vehemence.

Messi was accused of hiding in the big decisions. Many believed, like Maradona, that he was no leader to hold on to when the wind blows. In Argentina, with a football culture deeply rooted in Latin American macho ideals, Messi was repeatedly called "pecho frío". It literally means "cold chest" and is a derogatory term for someone who is considered to lack passion, courage and heart.

Messi was seen as Maradona's antithesis. His providential oversight and reluctance to talk about anything other than football (and even that sometimes reluctantly) was interpreted as a lack of commitment to the national team.

Argentina's president at the time, Mauricio Macri, personally called Leo Messi to try to change his mind:

- I told him not to worry about all the comments because in fact we are very satisfied with the work he has done.

After seven weeks, Lionel Messi was back in the national team.

It would take five more years before he could seize his first Copa America title in 2021, when Argentina beat Brazil in the final at the Maracaná itself in Rio de Janeiro.

Angel Di María scored the only goal of the match, but it was Messi who was lifted by his teammates on the pitch afterwards. Argentina had beaten the arch enemy, but just as much Messi had broken the curse.

The plug was out.

The following year, Argentina won one of the best World Cup finals of all time against France on penalties. Leo Messi put his without trembling.

In 2024, they won the Copa America again.

It is worth noting that the success of Leo Messi came after Diego Maradona passed away in 2020. In Argentina, known for football, tango and the world's highest frequency of psychoanalysts, some conclusions were certainly drawn from this.

"Dad" was gone. Messi was free.

Last summer, Argentina lost the World Cup final against a decidedly better Spain. But on a personal level, the adventure in the USA was nevertheless a triumph for the now 39-year-old Messi, who was perhaps the tournament's consistently best player.

And now it's over, for real this time, I guess. It has, as it is usually called, been a journey for the world's greatest smallest footballer of all time.