Buenos Aires offered Lionel Messi one more familiar night in Argentina colours, and a suggestion from the other side of South American football’s map. As the captain marked his farewell appearance for the national team at the Monumental, Conmebol president Alejandro Domínguez raised the possibility of a future that would bring Messi into the Copa Libertadores.
Domínguez met Messi on Tuesday around Argentina’s match against Benin, later sharing video of the exchange on Wednesday. The Paraguayan football executive told Messi that the Libertadores was the outstanding competition missing from an extraordinary international career.
“I think the only thing he still needs is to play in the Libertadores,” Domínguez said before asking the Argentine, with a laugh, whether he would accept the challenge. Messi did not respond to the invitation in the recorded moment.
A final Monumental contribution
The proposal came after a fittingly decisive evening for Argentina’s captain in Buenos Aires. Messi scored from the penalty spot and created two further goals in a 3-0 victory over Benin, bringing his time with the Albiceleste to a close at the Monumental.
For Domínguez, the Copa Libertadores represents a remaining chapter in the continental game rather than a judgment on a career already decorated across the world stage. Whether Messi ever takes up that challenge remains unanswered, but the invitation ensured that his Argentina farewell also carried a small glimpse of a possible South American club-football encore.
