Argentina bids farewell to Messi as teammates salute their ‘eternal’ captain
Translated from Greek and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
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- Lionel Messi announced that he will end his time with Argentina’s national team after the 2026 World Cup.
- Argentina reached the final but lost to Spain, and Messi said he began writing his farewell message two days later.
- Teammates and the Argentine federation thanked and praised the 39-year-old captain for his contribution to the team and country.
Argentina is saying goodbye to Lionel Messi after the captain announced that he will end his national-team career. The federation marked the moment on social media with a message of “Eternal gratitude, Leo. We will love you forever.”
Eternal gratitude, Leo. We will love you forever.
Messi’s final major tournament with Argentina was the 2026 World Cup. The team reached the final, where it lost to Spain. Messi later revealed that he had started writing his farewell message two days after the defeat.
His international career included major disappointments and lost finals before Argentina won the 2022 World Cup. Along the way, he faced intense criticism and pressure before reaching the top with the national team.
Thank you, the greatest of all time. Thank you for making us incredibly happy. You cannot imagine how many smiles you gave us. You are eternal.
Teammates responded with tributes. Rodrigo De Paul called Messi “the greatest of all time” and thanked him for bringing happiness and smiles to Argentina. Leandro Paredes wrote that Messi would always be the greatest and said, “We love you, captain.”
We thank you for everything. You are and will always be the greatest. We love you, captain.
Cristian Romero thanked Messi for what he had given both his teammates and Argentina, writing, “I love you, I admire you and I will always be grateful for everything you gave me, and for everything you gave our country. Eternal gratitude, captain.” Nicolás Tagliafico kept his farewell brief: “Eternal gratitude.” Julián Simeone recalled watching Messi as a child and dreaming of sharing a pitch with him.
I love you, I admire you and I will always be grateful for everything you gave me, and for everything you gave our country. Eternal gratitude, captain.
About this summary
Originally published by Ta Nea in Greek. 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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