Messi was sent off on his Argentina debut, and 208 games later he signed off with a goal and two assists
Argentina beat Benin 3-0 at the Monumental as Lionel Messi scored his 126th international goal and set up the other two in his final game for the national team.
Oct 8, 2026
Lionel Messi’s first game for Argentina ended with a red card less than a minute after he came on. His last one, against Benin at the Monumental in Buenos Aires on 6 October, ended with 85,000 people on their feet, a drone show over the stadium and Messi saying it was hard to talk. Argentina won 3-0. He set up two of the goals and scored the third from the penalty spot.
That penalty was his 126th international goal in his 208th game. Nobody has played more for Argentina, and nobody has scored more. Only Cristiano Ronaldo, on 146 goals in 234 games for Portugal, has more of either in the men’s game.
The night itself
The first half was goalless. Three minutes after the restart Messi swung in a corner and Nicolás Otamendi headed it in. Otamendi was saying goodbye too, on his 140th and last appearance after 17 years beside Messi and four World Cups. It was the right man to score first.
The second, in the 61st minute, went to substitute Nico Paz, a left-footed curl inside the far post. Paz is the player plenty of Argentines would like to see in the No. 10 next, and it was Messi who teed him up. Ten minutes later Messi stepped up for the penalty himself and put it in the top corner with his left foot.
“I would love to keep coming back forever, because playing for the Argentine national team is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you,” he said afterwards.
From a red card to a World Cup
The career started about as badly as a career can. On 17 August 2005 in Budapest, an 18-year-old Messi came off the bench against Hungary and was sent off almost straight away, after his arm caught Vilmos Vanczák as he tried to shake him off.
The years that followed were brilliant for Barcelona and painful for Argentina. He lost the Copa América final in 2007, the World Cup final in 2014 and two more Copa finals in 2015 and 2016, and for a long time the question in Argentina was whether he would ever win anything in blue and white.
He answered it late. Argentina won the Copa América in 2021, beating Brazil 1-0 in the final, then the World Cup in Qatar in 2022, then the Copa América again in 2024. I’m not sure any great player has had his reputation at home turned around so completely in three years.
The 2026 World Cup nearly added one more. Messi became one of three men to play at six World Cups, scored eight times in North America and took his World Cup total to 21 goals. Argentina reached the final and lost 1-0 to Spain after extra time on 19 July, Ferran Torres scoring in the 106th minute. Messi announced on 31 August that he was done with the national team.
What Argentina do without him
Lionel Scaloni has been honest about it. “We can put together a great squad with the new guys coming up, but I’ve never seen that aura in anyone else in my life,” the Argentina coach said.
That sounds right to me. Argentina will have good players, and Paz may become a very good one. But they have spent two decades building their attack, and most of their identity, around one man. The road to 2030 starts without him, and I suspect the adjustment will take longer than people expect.
Indian fans got to see him up close before the end. Messi’s GOAT tour took him to Kolkata, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi between 13 and 15 December 2025, his first visit to India since 2011. Kolkata unveiled a 70-foot statue of him holding the World Cup. He is still playing club football for Inter Miami, so this is not quite the end. For Argentina, though, it is.