Lionel Messi Bids Farewell to Argentina After 21 Years, No Ceremony Required

An Instagram video and a single line summing up 21 years: "I gave everything, I have nothing left to give." That's how, with no official ceremony and no stadium send-off, Lionel Messi closed the book on his career with the Argentina national team. And now the question everyone avoided for years lands squarely on the table: what is Argentina without Messi?

The numbers alone are staggering. 125 goals for the Albiceleste, the team's all-time record. Six World Cups played. Outright records in tournament history: 34 matches and 23 wins, a mark no other player has come close to matching. And on top of it all, the crowning achievement that eluded him for so long: the 2022 World Cup, the title that finally settled the score for an entire generation.

Messi debuted with the senior national team in 2005 as a teenager, and he departs at age 39 with the affection of teammates who grew up watching him play still fully intact. Enzo Fernandez, who made his debut just months before Qatar, put it with a candor that struck a chord with many:

I used to count the age gap between us to see if I'd ever get the chance to play with you someday. It's hard for me to imagine the next camp without you, walking onto the field and not seeing you out there wearing the number 10... We're going to miss you so much, Captain.Enzo Fernandez

The Search for an Heir

This isn't a new question. It first came up in 1994, when Diego Maradona left the national team under traumatic circumstances after testing positive in a doping control during the World Cup in the United States. It took more than a decade for anyone to emerge who could challenge for that throne, and Argentina waited 36 years before lifting a World Cup again.

Jorge Valdano, a 1986 World Cup champion and columnist, explained it this way in a recent interview:

Argentina has a deeply rooted culture. Players grow up learning the trade in the street and in neighborhood clubs; soccer permeates everything. In that environment, a genius is far more likely to emerge. But to become Messi, you need to win both the genetic lottery and the social lottery.Jorge Valdano

For now there's no one with that level of technical skill, but there are names starting to compete for the playmaker role. Nico Paz was on the squad with Messi at the recent World Cup and recently was named Serie A's best midfielder with Como. Thiago Almada started the tournament as a starter before losing his place, and later left Atletico Madrid to join River Plate.

A National Team That Was Already Winning Without Him

Toward the end of his career, as his body began to wear down, Messi missed more than 20 matches with the national team. Even so, Argentina kept winning. During World Cup qualifying, Lionel Scaloni found alternatives, pairing Julian Alvarez and Lautaro Martinez up top and giving minutes to Almada and Paz in the number 10 role. But later, at the World Cup itself, Messi once again showed why he's so hard to replace: he rescued a team that struggled to function collectively without him.

The other big question mark has a name: Scaloni. The architect of the most successful stretch in Argentine soccer history, with two Copa America titles to go along with the World Cup, had hinted he might step aside after the loss to Spain in the final. With Messi gone, keeping Scaloni, whose contract runs out in December, becomes essential to navigating the transition. The first major test will come with the 2028 Copa America.

The core of the squad, in any case, still has room to grow: Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martinez (28), Facundo Medina (27), Enzo Fernandez (25), Alexis Mac Allister (27), Valentin Barco (22), Giuliano Simeone (23) and Julian Alvarez (26) would all be at an ideal age for the 2030 World Cup, which Argentina will co-host. Scaloni, currently based in Spain, plans to travel to Buenos Aires in the coming days to begin planning friendlies for September, October and November, though the AFA has yet to confirm opponents.