RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 11 sourcesLionel Messi's retirement from the Argentina national side brings down the curtain on one of world football's most storied international careers.
The records and achievements of Messi are stuff of legend, and his status in international sport is reserved for only the very greatest of their craft.
Messi was denied the perfect finish to his Argentina career in July, defeated in a thrilling FIFA World Cup final by Spain that went to extra time.
But the loss in New Jersey only denied the fairytale finish, and did not diminish the legend that Messi created for himself, or the legacy that he has left among his people.
But the love and admiration of his people, the two Copa America wins, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup triumph, which brought Argentina back to the pinnacle of world football and raised Messi to the legendary status of fellow countryman Diego Maradona, almost never happened.
Messi has been on top of world football for two decades, winning the coveted Ballon d'Or as the world's best player a staggering eight times.
From 2004 to 2021, he won 10 La Liga titles, seven Spanish Cups, seven Spanish Super Cups, four Champions Leagues, three UEFA Super Cups and three FIFA Club World Cups with Barcelona.
In a legendary 2012, he scored 91 goals in all competitions, a record haul for a calendar year, and slotted 50 goals in the 2011-12 La Liga season.
Trophies, accolades, love and admiration grew and grew for the Barcelona great, but success for Argentina was not forthcoming.
Coming through the ranks, Messi led Argentina to a Youth World Championship in 2005 and the Olympic medal at the Beijing Games in 2008.
But in the very big tournaments, trophies were harder to come by.
When Messi made his senior debut for Argentina in 2005 against Hungary, the South American giants had not won a trophy since the 1993 Copa America.
Messi's Argentina senior debut was nothing to write home about either, sent off after less than a minute on the pitch for elbowing an opponent.
But Messi overcame that infamous beginning to establish himself as a star, and the hope of a nation that Argentina could return to the top of South America, and the world.
What followed was a string of bitter disappointments.
Argentina made the final of the Copa America in 2007, but was soundly beaten 3-0 by arch rival Brazil.
At the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Messi failed to score at the tournament as Argentina exited at the quarterfinal stage.
Argentina was then knocked out again at the quarterfinal stage, this time at the 2011 Copa America, by eventual winner Uruguay.
These were bitter disappointments for Argentina and Messi, but the pain was about to increase, and it led to the great man announcing he did not want to be part of it anymore.
Heading into the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, it had been 21 years since Argentina's last major trophy.
But the blue and whites marched into enemy territory intending to claim international football's greatest prize, and doing it in the backyard of their greatest rival.
Argentina won all three group games — over Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, and Nigeria — to top the group, beat Switzerland 1-0 in extra time, and finally won a quarterfinal by defeating Belgium 1-0.
A scoreless semifinal against the Netherlands, finalists in 2010, went to penalties, where Argentina won 4-2, including a successful spot kick from Messi.
In a major final for the first time in seven years, Argentina faced a German side that had just humiliated Brazil 7-1 in the semifinal.
Like all of Argentina's games to that point, the game was tight and tense. It went to extra time, but the strike of German Mario Götze sealed Germany's triumph.
A photograph of Messi looking at the World Cup trophy after the defeat, captured by Bao Tailiang for Chengdu Economic Daily in China, became the defining image of Messi for years.
The heartbreak only continued for Messi and Argentina.
The Copa America was held in 2015 and 2016, with Argentina reaching the final both times and losing to Chile each time.
Both finals ended scoreless and went to penalties. Messi converted his penalty, the only Argentinian player to do so, in the 2015 defeat, but the great man missed his spot kick in 2016.
The pain of the 2016 final defeat was too much for Messi, who announced he was retiring from Argentina.
"For me, the national team is over," he said after the loss to Chile in 2016. "I've done all I can. It hurts not to be a champion."
"It was the thing I wanted the most, but I couldn't get it, so I think it's over.
"I think this is best for everyone. First of all for me, then for everyone.
"I think there's a lot of people who want this, who obviously are not satisfied, as we are not satisfied reaching a final and not winning it."
World football was that close to never seeing Messi reach the heights he would achieve.
When Messi announced on Sunday, June 26, 2016, that he would no longer play for Argentina, he ended what was by any other measure a magnificent international career.
He had made 113 appearances, scored 55 goals and led his country to four major finals.
But the absence of a trophy was not good enough — not for someone as great as Messi.
On July 10, the world watched Cristiano Ronaldo lift an international major trophy as Portugal won the 2016 Euros.
On August 12, Messi announced that he was back.
What followed after his six-week retirement is, on its own, one of the greatest international careers ever forged.
Messi would add another 94 caps to his name, score another 70 goals, and more importantly, end Argentina's trophy drought.
And Messi didn't just win one major trophy for Argentina; he won four.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia was another familiar quarterfinal exit for Argentina, but it was the precursor to an era of success.
Argentina finally broke through to win the Copa America in 2021, and they did it against Brazil, in Brazil.
With the COVID-19 pandemic keeping many fans away from the f...
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