For Javier Zanetti, this is not simply the end of Lionel Messi’s international journey. It closes a long Argentine story that began when the Inter vice-president was still sharing a dressing room with a younger teammate whose place in his country’s football history had not yet been secured.
The coach and the club
Zanetti will follow Argentina’s match against Benin at the Monumental with particular emotion. The fixture, played tonight, is set to be Messi’s final appearance for the national team, bringing an end to a career that has carried the weight of expectation and, eventually, delivered the glory Argentina had long awaited.
The former Inter captain wore the Argentina shirt alongside Messi on 37 occasions. Their time together also included two Copa América campaigns, in 2007 and 2011, neither of which brought the trophy.
Messi’s greatest international successes arrived later, after Zanetti’s own Argentina career had ended. Yet the bond remained, with the Nerazzurri vice-president having accompanied his former teammate’s long journey from a distance.
At the Monumental, the occasion will therefore carry meaning beyond a farewell match. For Argentina it marks the closing page of Messi’s national-team career; for Zanetti, it is also a personal moment, shaped by years shared in the Selección and by the difficult early chapters that came before the celebrations.
