Lionel Messi will pull on Argentina’s sky blue-and-white jersey for the last time on Tuesday and enjoy an emotional farewell in front of his adoring fans in a stadium with a name to match his legacy: Monumental.
Some 85,000 Argentina fans will be on hand to watch the 39-year-old idol perform his wizardry in a friendly against Benin that brings down the curtain on his 21-year international career.
Millions more will be following the action in South America’s largest stadium, Buenos Aires’ Estadio Monumental, on TV.
The most-capped player in Argentine history is hanging up his boots two-and-a-half months after losing the World Cup final to Spain.
“I gave it my all; I have nothing left to give, and besides, there are great young players coming up who deserve their chance,” Messi wrote when announcing his international retirement in August.
On Monday, he took part in his last training session with the team at the complex that bears his name in the Buenos Aires suburb of Ezeiza.
“You can’t ask for more, that’s it,” Nahuel Nieva, a retail worker who took the day off work to watch his hero train, told AFP.
Messi remains under contract with Inter Miami until 2028, although following the death of his father, Jorge, two months ago, he revealed he may hang up his boots for good sooner than anticipated.
No effort has been spared for the sendoff of a player considered one of the game’s greatest ever.
Several of the teammates with whom he reached football’s pinnacle in Qatar, and who will lead the post-Messi team, will play in the game, including defender Cristian “Cuti” Romero, midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernandez and forwards Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez.
After the game the captain’s armband will pass to Romero.
Coach Lionel Scaloni has vowed to try fill the “void” left by his talismanic captain and the signs from the next generation, some of whom weren’t even alive when Messi debuted with the team in 2005, are auspicious.
In their first games since the World Cup final last week, minus Messi, Argentina thrashed Bolivia 4-0 in a friendly in Cordoba on Wednesday before running rings around Burkina Faso on Saturday at Monumental stadium.
Franco Mastantuono and Gianluca Prestianni, two of Argentina’s brightest new hopes, both scored their first international goals against Burkina Faso in a 7-0 romp.
