Lionel Messi prepares for his final Argentina appearance against Benin, bringing an emotional end to his 21-year international career

Lionel Messi will wear Argentina’s famous sky blue and white jersey for the final time on Tuesday as the 39-year-old captain prepares for an emotional farewell against Benin at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.

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The match will bring an end to Messi’s 21-year international career, following his decision in August to retire from Argentina duty.

The farewell comes less than three months after the forward helped Argentina reach the 2026 World Cup final, where they lost 1-0 to Spain in New Jersey.

For Argentine football, however, the occasion is about far more than the result of a friendly.

Around 85,000 supporters are expected at the Monumental, with Messi set to take centre stage in a stadium that has hosted some of the defining moments of his career.

The Argentine Football Association president, Claudio Tapia, described the match as the farewell Messi deserves when he announced the fixture in September.

FIFA subsequently confirmed that the Benin friendly would be Messi’s final appearance for the national team.

Messi announced his international retirement on August 31, saying the decision was painful but that he understood the time had come.

He had written the message shortly after the World Cup final but waited before making the decision public.

“I gave it my all; I have nothing left to give,” Messi wrote, while acknowledging that Argentina had a new generation of players ready to take their opportunity.

His decision closes one of the most remarkable and complicated relationships between a player and a national team in modern football.

Messi made his senior Argentina debut in 2005 and initially struggled to win over supporters who compared everything he did with the legendary Diego Maradona.

His performances for Barcelona had already made him one of the world’s biggest stars, but his early years with Argentina were marked by criticism, near misses and the perception that he could not reproduce his club brilliance on the international stage.

That relationship changed gradually.

Argentina reached the 2014 World Cup final with Messi as their talisman, only to lose to Germany.

Two years later, another painful defeat came when Chile beat Argentina in the Copa America final on penalties.

The disappointment became so overwhelming that Messi briefly announced his international retirement in 2016.

He returned, and what followed transformed his standing in Argentine football history.

Under Lionel Scaloni, Messi finally found the international success that had eluded him.

Argentina won the Copa America in 2021, defeated Italy in the 2022 Finalissima and then conquered the world in Qatar, ending the country’s 36-year wait for another World Cup title. Argentina also won the Copa America again in 2024.

The 2026 World Cup provided another opportunity for Messi to finish his international career with another major trophy, but Spain ended that dream in the final.

Even so, the defeat could not diminish what had already been achieved.

Messi leaves Argentina as the country’s record appearance-maker and leading scorer.

He has 207 international appearances, 125 goals and 68 assists, numbers that underline the extraordinary scale of his contribution to the national team.

He will also leave behind a generation of players who grew up watching him and who are now expected to carry Argentina into the next era.

Cristian Romero is expected to inherit the captain’s armband after Messi’s departure, while Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez are among the established players expected to form the backbone of the team.

The emergence of younger talents has also offered Argentina encouragement.

Without Messi in the line-up, Scaloni’s side defeated Bolivia 4-0 in Cordoba before producing an emphatic 7-0 victory over Burkina Faso at the Monumental.

Lautaro Martinez, Nicolas Paz, Cristian Romero and Jose Manuel Lopez scored against Bolivia, while Gianluca Prestianni and Franco Mastantuono were among the younger players to score their first international goals against Burkina Faso.

Those performances have strengthened the belief that Argentina can remain competitive after the departure of its greatest modern star.

Scaloni has acknowledged the size of the challenge, saying the team will collectively have to fill the void created by Messi’s absence.

The coach has also kept the decision on Argentina’s iconic No. 10 shirt open until after the farewell.

That uncertainty reflects the symbolic weight of Messi’s departure.

The No. 10 shirt has become inseparable from his identity with Argentina, just as it was before him with Maradona.

FIFA regulations mean Argentina cannot simply retire the number for major tournaments, leaving the question of who will eventually wear it as one of the first visible signs of the post-Messi era.

The farewell will also carry a deeply personal dimension for Messi.

His father and longtime agent, Jorge Messi, died in Rosario on August 8 at the age of 68 after a prolonged illness.

Jorge played a central role in his son’s career from his earliest days and remained one of the most influential figures in Messi’s football life.

Although Messi is ending his international career, Tuesday’s farewell is not necessarily the end of his playing career.

The Argentine remains contracted to Inter Miami through the 2028 MLS season after signing an extension with the club in October 2025.

That means supporters could still see him continue at club level even after his final appearance for Argentina.

For Argentina, though, the next chapter begins at the Monumental.

Messi’s final match will be a friendly against Benin, but the significance will extend well beyond the scoreline.

It will be the closing scene of a career that began with doubts, survived heartbreak and ultimately delivered the World Cup that Argentines had waited decades to see.

When Messi walks off the pitch for the final time in Argentina colours, the country will not simply be saying goodbye to its captain.

It will be saying goodbye to the player who, after years of trying to live up to Maradona’s enormous shadow, created a legacy of his own.

Also read: 19 Eagles available after Russia friendly withdrawals

The era may be ending, but Messi’s place in Argentina’s football history is secure.