Perhaps somewhere, in some dusty journal that’s surely been lost in Rosario, Lionel Messi made clear his destiny: that if he were to one day represent Argentina, his national team career must end in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
A decade and two months before the playmaker posted his hand-written retirement from international football, Messi made his first attempt to leave La Albiceleste. They had just lost the Copa América Centenario – a special edition of the South American championship held in the United States for the tournament’s 100th anniversary – in excruciating fashion, with Messi having missed his attempt in a shootout defeat to Chile at East Rutherford, the same venue where Argentina lost this year’s World Cup final. It was the third consecutive major final that saw Argentina receive silver medals as parting gifts, after the 2014 World Cup and 2015 Copa América.
It wasn’t as though he’d underperformed whenever he donned their fabled white and blue. His five Ballon d’Ors – already a record – weren’t awarded in spite of his international record. After the Copa América Centenario, the 29-year-old Messi had made 112 international appearances after debuting in 2005. In that tournament’s semi-final, he overtook Gabriel Batistuta as Argentina’s leading scorer with his 55th goal, to complement his 37 assists.
A month later, Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi’s great foil, led Portugal to their first European Championship despite exiting the final due to injury. It seemed that their legacies had been largely cast: Messi, a talisman for his club but a regular at heartbreak hotel for his country; Ronaldo, an unstoppable force in front of goal and finally a continental champion.
And so, for roughly six weeks, Messi bore the distinction of being a former Argentina international. Not exactly a memorable stretch of his career – the only games he would have played in that span were Barcelona’s preseason tune-ups – but with Conmebol’s World Cup qualifiers in process and his team struggling to secure a place in the field for Russia, Messi framed his return as a necessity.
“A lot of things went through my mind on the night of the final and I gave serious thought to quitting,” Messi said on 12 August 2016, “but my love for my country and this shirt is too great.”
What followed over his decade-long second act transformed his legacy from one of individual success and international heartbreak into the culmination of the sport’s greatest-ever career and the establishment of his team as South America’s dominant force of the past quarter-century. In its own right, the second international act of Messi, played almost entirely in his 30s, ranks among the greatest careers in international men’s soccer history.
The trophy case certainly looks more robust in that back half of his career. In the earlier stage sits five Ballon d’Ors, a World Cup golden ball, a U20 World Cup and an Olympic gold. In the latter: three more Ballon d’Ors, another World Cup golden ball and a second one in silver, a World Cup, two Copa Américas, and a Finalissima.
His individual output after retiring the first time is staggering, too: 95 caps, 70 goals, 31 assists. Only 23 men have scored at least 70 goals across full international careers.
Regardless of era, goals have come more easily for Messi in his 30s than most greats ever find. Geoff Hurst played his 49th and final England match aged 30 in 1972, the same summer he left West Ham for Stoke City. Pelé, in total, scored 77 goals in 92 caps before retiring at age 31. World Cup icon Miroslav Klose scored his 71 Germany goals across 137 caps. Luis Suárez has bagged 69 goals from 143 appearances for Uruguay. Ronaldo had 62 goals in 98 caps for Brazil. Even Kylian Mbappé, who is already on 66 goals and won’t turn 28 until December, has made 106 appearances for France.
Of course, numbers and trophies don’t tell the full story. The tale of Messi’s return is one of redemption, finally finding a place in Argentinian hearts after spending so long in Diego Maradona’s shadow. Every national team appearance over the last four years has bordered on being a worship service, tens of thousands chanting his name.
A decade before this summer’s World Cup final, at the same site in New Jersey, the masses jeered as he was left in tears after losing a tournament final. On 19 July, with Argentina again suffering a defeat in an even grander competition, they instead wept with him.
So well-documented is Messi’s career that it’s tough to find fresh superlatives. Even data-driven comparisons of his output compared to esteemed rivals cause the mind to glaze over. But now, with clarity that the World Cup final was indeed his final turn in an Argentina shirt, the narratives that followed his shock announcement a decade ago have a payoff.
Messi retired from Argentina as a 29-year-old, already arguably his sport’s greatest ever. Upon coming back, his second act wasn’t just better than his first – it was arguably better than any other player’s entire career.
