You wanted him to fail. You expected it in every final, every penalty shootout, every big match. And even so, when he got the ball, you couldn’t look away.
That’s what nobody admits.
Today, at the Monumental, Lionel Messi plays his last match for Argentina. He made his debut in August 2005, at 18 years old. Today he says goodbye at 39. In between, there are 21 years, 207 matches, and 125 goals. There’s a World Cup in 2022 and two Copa América titles, in 2021 and 2024.
There’s also the 2026 World Cup final, lost 1-0 to Spain in extra time. Even then, he didn’t stay down. He put the shirt back on.
You said a thousand times that it wasn’t that big a deal. That he was missing this, that he had too much of that. But there’s something no argument can take away from you: you enjoyed it. Every dribble, every impossible pass, every time you let slip a “look what he did”, even through gritted teeth.
He himself said it in this stadium, in 2023: “We don’t know how much longer we have, so let’s enjoy it”.
Live with joy. That’s what he did. And that, whether you like it or not, is what you did every time you watched him play.
Today he wears the 10 and the captain’s armband for the last time. Starting tomorrow, every Argentina match will have an empty place on the pitch.
You’ll look for him and he won’t be there. That’s when you’ll understand how much you watched him.