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Sport Nation
Retirement to record breaking: Immortal Messi we almost missed
SEN • June 23rd, 2026 12:06 pm
A decade ago, Lionel Messi announced he was retiring from international football.
Off the back of a missed penalty while playing for Argentina in the 2016 Copa America final against Chile, it was the fourth defeat in a major final in almost 10 years.
Incredible to think what might have been if he had not changed his mind after becoming the top World Cup goal scorer of all time thanks to a brace against Austria.
Two days out from his 39th birthday, goals 17 and 18 made him the out and out No 1 across men's and women's football with Brazil's Marta on 17.
Messi's first retirement came at a time he did not have the adulation of a nation.
"For me, the national team is over," he said in 2016. "I've done all I can. It hurts not to be a champion."
From a young age he was playing and training in Spain; his career with Barcelona and the magic that team created made him a local hero in Europe. Back home he was not revered in the same way other home grown players were.
Mess had scored just five goals for Argentina when he called time.
There have since been 13 World Cup goals, two Copa America titles, not to mention Messi scoring a brace to hand Argentina their first Jules Rimet trophy since 1986 when they beat France in Qatar four years ago.
"The start of his career was all about his days at Barcelona," SEN's Jordy Kounelis said.
"Winning Champions league titles etc but there was a disconnect between Messi and Argentina, the fans didn’t relate to him as he left the country so young.
"The second half of his career has been Argentina and now he is revered in the same way Maradona is."
Records are tumbling every minute that Messi is on the pitch it seems. Just by being named in the Argentina squad he became the first player in history to play at six World Cups.
In the second group match against Austria he also became the third player to score in six successive World Cup matches after France's Just Fontaine in 1958 and Brazil's Jairzinho in 1970.
"It’s something else to add to his legacy." Archie Thompson said on SEN. "He has done so much in the world of football but when a record like that comes up, you can see that even he is excited about it.
"He had a glimpse of the summit – then again Kylian Mbappe is more than capable of breaking the record again. It’s taken Messi six World Cups to get close and now at the top.
"It’ll be interesting to see how many more he can score this World Cup. He has five already. It’s just incredible. He’s just a magician. He is 39 in a couple of days and as a team they probably haven’t got out of second gear."
Argentina are no strangers to producing the greatest in the world. So where does Messi sit in the Maradona debate?
"He is better than Maradona," Thompson continued. "It’s a hard call and it’s a different time. It would be tough on a player to go these days back to then. But Messi is incredible. Maradona was a template of what an amazing player could be.
"The student has become the master with Messi. It’s also incredible to think that because of the backlash he got from Argentina fans he was questioning things and he did retire at one stage."
