After a tearful retirement announcement following a missed penalty, Messi returned six weeks later and changed a decade of Argentine football
Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Lionel Messi’s final decade with Argentina included four trophies, among them the World Cup.
- That period nearly ended before it began when Messi announced his retirement after missing a penalty in a shootout.
- He returned to the national team six weeks later, a decision that shaped Argentina’s subsequent football history.
Lionel Messi’s golden decade with Argentina almost disappeared in a moment of despair. After missing a penalty in a shootout, the forward announced his retirement from international football.
Six weeks later, he changed his mind and returned. That decision opened the way for a decade that brought Argentina four trophies, including the World Cup.
The contrast gives Messi’s international career its defining tension: an emotional withdrawal came just before the most successful period of his time with the national team. What looked like an ending instead became the beginning of a trophy-filled era.
The episode is presented as a turning point not only for Messi, but for Argentine football. His return allowed the team’s most important chapter to unfold, transforming a missed penalty and a retirement declaration into the starting point for a historic run.
About this summary
Originally published by Chosun Ilbo in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.
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