Messi farewell closes hard-won, long love story with Argentina

When Lionel Messi makes his final appearance for Argentina on Tuesday, it will bring to an end a journey that began with the country’s football authorities not even knowing his name and evolved into one of the most enduring relationships in sporting history.

The farewell against Benin at Buenos ‌Aires’ Monumental stadium ends an international career spanning more than two decades, which began with Argentina scrambling to identify a teenage prodigy ​developing far from home.

“He went through so many moments that they’re really very different eras. At first he suffered enormously ‌with the national team. He truly endured it,” ‌Argentine journalist and author Sergio Levinsky, who wrote “Messi and Everything Else”, told Reuters.

Messi moved to Barcelona as a teenager and, while Spain tried to persuade him to represent them, his own country barely knew he existed.

Argentina's captain and forward #10 Lionel Messi poses with the FIFA World Cup Trophy after Argentina won the Qatar 2022 World Cup final football match between Argentina and France at Lusail Stadium in Lusail, north of Doha on December 18, 2022. AFP

At the 2003 Under-17 World Cup in Finland, Spain beat Argentina 3-2 after extra ‌time in the semi-finals.

According to Levinsky, a young Cesc Fabregas, who scored twice and was Messi’s teammate at Barcelona’s La Masia academy, told Argentine delegates afterwards: “You lost to us because we’ve got your best player at Barcelona and he’s a genius.”

Argentina youth coach Hugo Tocalli recalled a similar encounter. He said at the Ole Summit last month that Spain’s head chef told him Argentina needed “a kid who plays in Barcelona” to win the tournament. Finding the boy from Rosario proved difficult.

Argentine Football Association (AFA) employee Omar Souto tracked down the Messi family in Spain through a Rosario telephone directory, only to ask for “Leonardo”.

Argentina's Lionel Messi is thrown into the air by teammates after winning the Conmebol 2021 Copa America football tournament final match against Brazil at Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 10, 2021. AFP

“His name isn’t Leonardo, it’s Lionel,” Souto was told, according to the documentary “Messi: The Forgotten Tape”.

The confusion ​even extended to the paperwork.

The AFA sent Barcelona a fax asking about a player called “Mecci,” spelling the surname with a ‌double “c” because officials believed he might be Italian, Levinsky said.

After those complications, Messi played two under-20 friendlies for Argentina in 2004, his first appearances in the blue and white stripes.

Yet scepticism lingered.

At the 2005 Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, Messi began on the bench as Argentina lost their opening game.

Agencies