Goodbye Messi: The Story Is Better for Its Highs and Lows

Lionel Messi’s farewell to Argentina is more compelling because his national-team career did not unfold as a smooth victory parade. Like Homer’s Odysseus, the story gained its force from the obstacles along the way.

For years, Argentina saw a Messi who could not reproduce the brilliance he showed for Barcelona. He sometimes drifted along the touchline, looked at the ground and disappeared from matches when the team needed him most. Argentina lost games and finals while Messi struggled to become, in the national shirt, the global star he already was every weekend in Catalonia.

His record with Argentina included a promising World Cup debut in Germany, a disappointing campaign in South Africa in which he did not score, a strong showing followed by defeat in Brazil, and widespread disappointment in Russia. In 2016, after another failure to win a title, Messi briefly stepped away from the team, saying he felt unable to break the curse surrounding Argentina. The Copa América brought five consecutive tournaments without a title.

“

Let’s keep the ball!

The turning point came in 2021. The article argues that Messi did not begin winning simply because his performances improved. Something changed in the way he played for Argentina, and that change helped produce the victories. He not only delivered an outstanding tournament, but also showed a level of captaincy that had not been seen from him before.

When Colombia equalized in the semifinal, Messi did not retreat into the silence and body language of earlier disappointments. He demanded the ball and attacked again. He shouted at teammates, argued with the referee and helped create the charged atmosphere that included goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez’s famous taunt, “Look at me, brother, I’m going to eat you.” The difficult years became part of the legend rather than an obstacle to it.

“

Look at me, brother, I’m going to eat you.