I’ve seen many idiots online being happy about this and still salty about Argentina ‘cheating’ their way to the final. This was probably one of the saddest retirements in football. I don’t know what it was like when Diego retired, but probably THE saddest in Argentine history. Thank you, Leo, thank you for EVERYTHING you’ve given to Argentina and football. I can’t describe how great you were in words and to be honest, no one can.

I thought Messi would play in one more Copa America as a sub but he made his decision, this is the end of an era

Welp, it’s the end of an era.

I can't say anything more than "thank you" to Messi. I have only been seeing football for past 7 or so years on a dedicated level. The first football match I ever watched was that 2014 final, and his was the only name that I knew. Because of that I thought Argentina would win... worked out well.

He is the reason I support my FC Barcelona, his performances in that season and seeing the videos of how he played prior. The dribbles, the passes, the movement, the intelligence, the goals, the assists, the playmaking... He makes football look like an art, an intricate choreography. I don't know if there is going to be a better player. Because of him, and the passion and heart with which Argentines love and breathe the sport, I became an Argentina fan (which we have been having in India since Maradona in 86), suffering through 2019 Copa, waiting anxiously for that match in the Maracana to end in 2021.

2022 seeing the loss to Saudi Arabia. I remember it was early in the morning and I had just reached my school, wondering if that was where the dream would die. Seeing that rocket of a goal against Mexico. The battle against the Netherlands. The slaughter of Croatia. The most stressful 40+ minutes of my life between Mbappe's 2 goals and Montiel's penalty. I remember being in a bad place at that time and that still being the happiest day of my life. I still don't remember what exactly I did when Montiel's penalty went in. I just remember screaming at the top of my lungs watching Dibu save those penalties. I remember visiting my friends in sheer euphoria, eating pizza and kicking around a football on a cold December afternoon, and just feeling a sheer sense of happiness and satisfaction. That just a couple years prior, Messi winning the ultimate prize in football would have been unthinkable. But it had finally happened. And I had even gotten to see Messi live with Inter Miami not long after.

And now in 2026 again supporting Argentina throughout the difficult matches. Being able to watch the matches alongside Argentines here, and despite the distance of continents between my motherland and theirs, singing the same songs, wearing the same colors, cheering for the same goals in the same restaurant in front of the same TV screen. As if I was from Buenos Aires or they were from Bengaluru. Reminding me of why this sport is the beautiful thing it is, despite the toxicity, the greed, the hate campaigns, the allegations that have been thrown around.

I hope and pray he comes back to FC Barcelona for one last farewell. The news today shook me in a way that football hadn't in the past 5 years. The last time was also on a random August, seeing that Messi would no longer be a player of my club. Messi had two exits from Argentina - one in disgrace and defeat, and one in glory and well-deserved appreciation, from those same fans who a decade earlier maybe would have called him a Spaniard. Messi has only had one exit from Barcelona. May he get a second in glory.

Gracias por todo Leo, sos un genio (best my Spanish can get lol)

Honestly this makes the teams faces when coming out of that dressing room make so much sense. I had a feeling this was the reason
not they were told to lose the final
not infantino blackmailed them or all that bs
Messi did probably drop the line that this is their last time they were every gonna play together as argentina team mates.

🫡

Sos mi youtuber favorito amunt valencia