Messi posts emotional tribute to father Jorge, raises doubts about soccer future

Some messages carry more weight than any trophy. The one Lionel Messi posted this Wednesday on social media is one of them: a tribute to his father, Jorge Messi, who died Saturday at 68, in which the Argentine captain not only bids farewell to the man who was his agent and the chief architect of his career, but also leaves open a question almost no one dared to ask until now: whether he'll keep playing soccer.

"I don't know what I'm going to do without you," Messi wrote on Instagram. "I don't know how to go on. The only thing I've ever done in my life is play soccer, and now I have serious doubts about whether I'm going to keep doing it much longer." Those are heavy words, especially coming from someone who led Argentina to the final of this summer's World Cup and who, from the outside, still seemed to have plenty left in the tank.

Jorge Messi was no ordinary father in his son's career. He handled his contracts, his business dealings and much of the decision making that shaped the path from Rosario to the top of world soccer. That closeness explains the rawness of the message, and also why Messi chose to share publicly what he went through behind the scenes during the tournament.

A World Cup played with a broken heart

In the tribute, Messi recalls that his father urged him many times to play in that last World Cup, and that right before the tournament began, his health took a turn for the worse. "It was the first time you weren't going to be at the tournament," he wrote. He also said his mother kept telling him Jorge would get better and would be able to travel, and that he himself kept promising his father they'd reach the final so he could be there.

That final, though, didn't unfold the way Messi had dreamed it would for his father. "I wanted to win it" for him, the message reads, though his body didn't fully cooperate: "I couldn't. My legs had nothing left. This time I tried to push past what my body could handle, but I couldn't. I never managed to feel right," Messi wrote.

Those who followed that World Cup remember the image from Argentina's opening match against Algeria: Messi visibly emotional after scoring one of his three goals in that game. He later admitted the tears that day had to do with "something beyond soccer," a phrase that now takes on a different meaning.

Messages of support for the Messi family have kept pouring in over the past few days. The player traveled to Argentina, which is why he missed his club Inter Miami's recent match against Monterrey in the Leagues Cup. The Florida side closes out the tournament's group stage Wednesday night against Leon, though the coaching staff has already made clear there's no set timeline for their captain's return.