Messi's Farewell Came With Unfinished Business at the Monumental

Lionel Messi's final night in an Argentina shirt was meant to be a ceremony. For 90 minutes at the Monumental it kept turning into a football match, and Messi was still at the centre of it. He scored a second-half penalty, set up two more goals and missed enough clear chances to leave a 39-year-old looking like a man who was not quite finished. Argentina beat Benin 3-0 in his 208th and last international, and the scoreline was the least interesting thing about it.

A farewell with a match attached

The occasion was thorough in its staging. According to BBC Sport's report, the sell-out crowd of 85,000 got fireworks, a laser light show, live music and presentations. A giant Argentina shirt bearing Messi's number 10 and the word "gracias" was spread across the pitch. Ten minutes in, play stopped for more fireworks, another standing ovation and handshakes from every Benin player.

Messi was visibly moved throughout. He was filmed wiping away tears on the coach to the ground and again appeared overcome during the national anthem. This was also his first game for Argentina since the death of his father, Jorge, aged 68 after a long illness.

Once the fanfare subsided, though, the match asked normal questions of him. He was, in the BBC's words, typically at the heart of everything going forward. That is the central tension of the night. A retirement can be sentimental and still be a footballing loss, and Messi's performance made the second point hard to ignore.

The goal involvement that mattered

The first half finished 0-0. Argentina then scored three times in a 23-minute spell (my calculation, from goals at 48 and 71 minutes). Nicolas Otamendi scored at 48 minutes and Nicolas Paz at 61, with Messi credited with the assist on both. Messi converted a penalty at 71 minutes to complete the scoring.

Taken together, that is a simple tally: Messi either scored or assisted every goal Argentina scored. Paz had come on at 59 minutes, so his goal arrived two minutes after he reached the pitch. Whatever one makes of the opposition, the pattern was familiar. The ball went through Messi and the chances followed.

The match stats back up the territorial picture. Argentina had 65.2% possession and 19 shots to Benin's seven, a gap of 12 (calculated). They put 12 on target to Benin's two and had 42 touches inside the opposition box to nine. Benin's goalkeeper made eight saves; Argentina's made two. Benin completed just 16 successful passes in the final third, against Argentina's 178.

Those figures describe a one-sided friendly, which is what it was. They also show why this is an analytical point and not just a sentimental one. A side that dominated that heavily still needed Messi to be the link in all three goals.

The misses are part of the story

The tidy version of a farewell has the great player scoring a perfect goal and walking off. This one was messier. The BBC report says Messi saw two free-kicks well saved, twice missed glorious chances from inside the six-yard box and hit the post in the closing stages. In stoppage time he sent another direct free-kick too high.

That matters for how we read the evening. Analytically, it points to a player still getting into the places where goals are scored, even if the finishing was not always precise. Nobody should read too much into a friendly against modest opposition, and a handful of misses proves nothing about decline. It does suggest the decision to retire was not forced by an inability to affect games.

Messi himself framed it as a decision made with reluctance. When he announced it in August, he said the decision "hurt" but that "the time has come". He said he had written his retirement message on 21 July, two days after Argentina lost the World Cup final to Spain. Late in his speech he returned to the same thought, saying he was talking more than ever because he "simply" did not want the moment to end.

What the people around him said

The reaction from those who worked with him points in the same direction. Lionel Scaloni, the Argentina coach, said he never thought he would be coach of the best footballer in history. He added: "I've never seen that aura in anyone else in my life." Scaloni also said the tears came because so many things were going through his head, and that not seeing Messi any more would be sad.

Neymar, a former Barcelona and Paris St-Germain team-mate, wrote on X that the world thanked Messi for what he did for football. Rodrigo De Paul called him a brother and said Messi had made him grow as a person as well as a footballer. Angel di Maria said it was a pleasure to see Messi with so much happiness and tranquillity, knowing he had given everything.

The word that recurs is not "talent" but something closer to presence. Scaloni's "aura" and De Paul's description of personal growth both describe an influence beyond the scoresheet. That is harder to replace than a goalscorer, and it is the part of Messi's international career that no statistics from this match can capture.

The record he leaves

The career numbers are stark. Messi ended with 126 goals in 208 appearances for Argentina. He is second in World Cup history with 21 goals, one behind France's Kylian Mbappe on 22 (a difference of one, by my calculation). He is also second for goals in all internationals, behind Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo on 146, which leaves him 20 short (again, calculated).

His honours with Argentina include a World Cup and two Copa America titles. His debut in 2005 was a 63rd-minute substitute appearance in a 2-1 friendly win over Hungary, and he was shown a straight red card less than a minute later after his elbow connected with full-back Vilmos Vanczak. In his speech he reached back to 2022, saying the team had fulfilled the dream of an entire country by becoming world champions again, and he said Argentina came very close to winning again this summer.

From a red card inside a minute to a farewell with 85,000 in attendance is a long arc, and it is part of why the night resonated beyond the result.

What comes next

Messi's playing career is not over. According to the BBC, he will continue at Major League Soccer side Inter Miami, with a contract running to the end of the 2028 season. The international goodbye is therefore a narrower loss than a full retirement would be, and it is Argentina who bear it.

Scaloni's side now have to build an attack without the player who was involved in all three goals against Benin. The evidence from this match cannot say how well they will manage that, and it would be unfair to ask a friendly to answer it. What it does show is that the gap will be a footballing one as much as an emotional one.

Research: This article uses the archived evidence supplied for this story. Story inspiration: BBC Sport's original report.