BUENOS AIRES, Argentina \u2014 Argentina superstar\u00a0Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international soccer on Monday, ending 21 years of national-team duty that were capped by\u00a0winning the World Cup in 2022\u00a0to secure his place in the pantheon of the game’s greatest ever players.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a decision that hurt \u2014 and still hurts deeply \u2014 but I understand that the time has come,\u201d the 39-year-old Messi said on his Instagram account.<\/p>\n
Messi, who will continue to play at club level with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer, played in a record-tying six World Cups. He won it four years ago in a tournament he dominated in Qatar and also led Argentina to the title match in 2014 and again this year, when the Albiceleste\u00a0lost to Spain\u00a0in extra time in New Jersey.<\/p>\n
Messi stands shoulder to shoulder with Diego Maradona, a compatriot with whom he was so often compared, and Brazil icon Pel\u00e9 as the greatest players of all time.<\/p>\n
\u201cI swear to you that I always gave it my all \u2014 not just in these last few years when we won everything, but before that too,” Messi wrote. “I always fought and left everything on the field for this jersey, to bring you joy and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Messi played 207 games for Argentina and finishes as its all-time leading scorer with 125 goals, 21 of them in World Cups. Only one player has more goals in men’s internationals \u2014 his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo, who has 146 and has yet to announce his retirement from Portugal duty.<\/p>\n
Messi became the all-time leading\u00a0World Cup\u00a0scorer for a month in the recent tournament in the U.S., Mexico and Canada, but finished one goal behind France\u2019s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Messi decided two days after World Cup final<\/p>\n
In a long social-media post, Messi explained he wrote his retirement letter on July 21 \u2014 two days after the World Cup final in which he struggled to make an impact \u2014 but waited to publish it because his father was facing health issues that eventually claimed his life.<\/p>\n
Jorge Messi\u00a0died on Aug. 8 in his native Rosario.<\/p>\n
Two months after Messi starred at the 2005 world under-20 championship, scoring both of Argentina’s goals in the final triumph, he was given his senior Argentina debut at 18. His first appearance lasted only two minutes; the substitute was sent off against Hungary in Budapest.<\/p>\n
His journey with the national team was fraught with more frustration \u2014 he briefly retired from Argentina duty in 2016 after three defeats in three consecutive major finals \u2014 until he finally lifted the World Cup four years ago, either side of also winning Copa America titles in 2021 and ’24.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you for all the love these past 20 years,” he said. “I\u2019m going to miss hearing you all from the inside so much. Now I\u2019m going to be one of you, cheering and supporting you from the outside (through thick and thin, even more so).\u201d<\/p>\n
In the letter, Messi did not say how long he intends to continue playing. The recent World Cup showed he’s still one of the best players in the world, as did a four-goal display for Inter Miami at the weekend in a 7-1 victory over CF Montreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI leave with the peace of mind and pride of having given you \u2014 along with my teammates \u2014 moments we once only dreamed of. Experiencing this with you was incredible. I love you all,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Messi’s stellar recent success with Argentina nearly didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n
A decade ago he retired from the national team following Argentina’s defeat in the 2016 Copa Amercia final to Chile on penalty kicks \u2014 one of which he missed.<\/p>\n
A public campaign led by Maradona and the president changed his mind and Messi shook off the notion of not being able to win the big matches, returning to the Argentina team and continuing to star for Barcelona, then Paris Saint-Germain, then Inter Miami.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the two-time MVP in MLS, the star of the league champion and someone who still creates goals in the biggest moments.<\/p>\n
He’s also a record eight-time world player of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is pure history,\u201d Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said during the recent World Cup. \u201cHistory. A legend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The retirement announcement sparked a wave of reactions.<\/p>\n
Argentina president Javier Milei wrote on Instagram: \u201cThank you very much, impossible man.\u201d<\/p>\n
FIFA president Gianni Infantino praised Messi \u201cfor an extraordinary international career that has inspired millions of people and redefined our sport. Your magical talent and humility will be remembered forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Argentine Football Association wrote: \u201cThank you for everything, Leo. Thank you for representing Argentina. Thank you for making us dream. Thank you for turning so many dreams into reality. The legend is yours, forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
Argentina and Inter Miami teammate Rodrigo De Paul highlighted on social media \u201cyour unconditional love for our country, your internal battles to never give up, your strength in always enduring injustices, and your leadership and character in your dealings with every player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leandro Paredes, another Argentina teammate, said, \u201cThank you for absolutely everything. You are and always will be the greatest of all time. We love you, Captain.\u201d<\/p>\n
Defender Cristian Romero said: \u201cI love you, I admire you, and I will always be grateful for the impact you\u2019ve had on me and on our country. Thank you for so much, Captain.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUENOS AIRES, Argentina \u2014 Argentina superstar\u00a0Lionel Messi announced his retirement from international soccer on Monday, ending 21 years…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,82],"class_list":["post-878853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}