Buenos Aires, Argentina – In the La Boca neighbourhood, home to the Boca Juniors stadium and a place which lives and breathes football, people are taking turns to be photographed in front of huge murals depicting football legend Lionel Messi holding the 2022 World Cup.
Across the city, monuments have been illuminated in Argentina’s blue and white in honour of the national hero, who has announced his retirement from international football after two decades during which he was transformed from young prodigy to national icon.
On Monday, football clubs around the country were singing songs for Messi and mounting banners showing him holding the World Cup he helped to win for his country. The Argentine Football Association is planning a farewell match to thank him for his extraordinary service.
Messi announced his departure from the national team this week on social media with a handwritten letter that he says he wrote two days after losing the World Cup final against Spain this year. He said he had “nothing else to give”.
“It was a decision that hurt – and still hurts deep down – but I understand that the time has come,” he wrote on Instagram on Monday.
While the news has not come as a total surprise – Messi is 39 years old and has recently lost his father, Jorge Messi, who played a crucial role in his career – fans are nevertheless devastated.
“We are going to continue loving Messi, not just for football but for his humility, for who he is; that’s the most important thing about Messi,” fan Sebastian Luna tells Al Jazeera. “It’s football; it’s over, but Messi will always be in our hearts”.
Some are calling for his number 10 jersey to be retired along with him. Alas, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) rules won’t allow it – the team has already tried.
‘Like a bucket of cold water’
Messi played six World Cups for Argentina, and for years, he struggled with constant criticism for failing to win one.
The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain forward, who now plays for Inter Miami, has been repeatedly compared unfavourably with the football legend Diego Maradona – who also helped Argentina win one World Cup in 1986. But that all changed when Argentina won in Qatar, propelling Messi to the status of national symbol for all Argentinians across political and social divides. Now, they have two heroes to celebrate.
“I saw Maradona; I saw many players – Kempes – but Messi is superlative,” says fan Carlos Sciata in Buenos Aires. His retirement is “like a bucket of cold water, but well, it was something that could happen, especially after his father’s death. But we are going to miss him a lot. There is no one else like him,” he adds.
The record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner became his country’s record appearance maker and scorer, with 125 goals in 207 games, having transformed a complicated relationship with the national team into a story of redemption and triumph.
Tributes have poured in since his announcement on Monday.
Angel Di Maria, who played alongside Messi in their FIFA 2022 World Cup triumph in Qatar, said it was “so hard” to know fans will not be able to see the talismanic forward in the sky blue and white colours of Argentina any more.
“I only know that I was born in the right century to be able to see you, enjoy you, and on top of that, to share all these years with you on the national team,” Di Maria declared.
Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s Argentinian teammate at his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, applauded the record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s “unconditional love” for the country.
“Just thank you, the greatest of all time, thank you for making us so, so happy, you can’t imagine how many smiles you brought!!” he added.
“You are eternal.”
Enormous void
Despite hoping for a final triumph at the World Cup this year, Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain in the final.
Now, Argentina is preparing for what comes next.
Messi’s departure leaves an enormous void for football fans, and questions are being raised about the future of coach Lionel Scaloni and the team he built around the star player.
Off the pitch, Argentinian football is facing problems of its own, with the Argentine Football Association (AFA) under investigation amid serious allegations of corruption and financial irregularities.
But for today, it is all about saying goodbye at the end of an era. Messi represents a collective source of happiness in a country that has endured economic and political upheaval.
The one man who makes all Argentinians proud summed it up in his farewell message on Monday: “I leave with the peace of mind and pride of having given you – alongside my teammates – moments we once only dreamed of,” he wrote.
