In an emotional Argentina farewell, Lionel Messi’s final appearance in the world champions’ shirt ended with a 3-0 friendly victory over Benin and tears around the national side. Head coach Lionel Scaloni was among those overcome during the anthem, as players and supporters marked the closing of a defining international career.
A farewell shaped by emotion
- Argentina gathered for Messi’s last 90 minutes with the three-time world champions, with the occasion carrying a weight that was evident before kick-off.
- Scaloni, Messi and several members of the squad became emotional during the national anthem.
- Argentina went on to beat Benin 3-0, although Scaloni felt the team’s desire to make the night special for Messi affected its first-half performance.
- After the match, Scaloni reflected on the challenge of moving forward without a player he described as impossible to replace.
The coach said the first half had been difficult because the players were overwhelmed by the circumstances. Each of them wanted to create the perfect farewell for Messi, he explained, but that urgency left the side unsure which decision to take in possession.
“We were very emotional in the first half,” Scaloni said. “The players did not know which move to choose. They were nervous because it was a genuinely special night and everyone wanted him to leave in a special way. We were not good before the interval because everyone was trying to give their best. The whole world was greeting him. It was a very emotional match.”
Scaloni’s tribute to Messi
Scaloni said his tears came from the reality that Argentina would no longer have a player of Messi’s stature available. He called the forward an irreplaceable figure and said the country was unlikely ever to see another footballer like him in the national shirt.
“The tears were because an unrepeatable player will no longer play for Argentina,” Scaloni said. “There will surely never be another like him. It is a very emotional day, and it is sad because he will not wear this shirt again. We are eternally grateful for everything he gave us.”
For the Argentina coach, the chance to manage Messi had been a personal ambition fulfilled. Scaloni said he had told the forward in front of the squad that coaching him had been a dream, even if emotion left him with little strength to speak.
“He defended this shirt like nobody else,” Scaloni said. “For me, it was a dream to be his coach. Any Argentine would say the same. I never imagined I would manage the greatest footballer in history. He was the best throughout his 20-year career and he still is.”
Argentina look to the next generation
Scaloni acknowledged that Argentina must now continue without Messi, while warning that the feeling he created within the group cannot simply be reproduced. He said Messi himself had recognised that the recent years had been exceptional and that harder periods may return.
Argentina, Scaloni said, have young players and the capacity to face what comes next. A strong new team can be built, but Messi’s presence brought an aura unlike anything the coach had encountered during a playing and coaching life spent alongside major talents.
“We have to carry on without him now, and it will be hard,” Scaloni said. “We can have another very good team with the younger players, but I have never seen that aura in anybody. I played with great footballers, yet I have never seen what he generates. We have other players and we will look for that, but the feeling will not return. To have enjoyed it was incredible.”
Messi leaves Argentina with what Scaloni called an extraordinary legacy: a standard of commitment to the shirt, and a recent era the national team will seek to honour as it begins the next chapter.
