Messi's Last Dance- Everything You Need To Know About His Argentina Farewell After Reputation Took a Beating

Everything You Need To Know About Lionel Messi's Last Argentina Appearence

The international chapter of Lionel Messi's legendary career is nearly closed as the 39-year-old prepares for his final match for Argentina following his decision to retire from international football.

Messi announced his decision to retire from the Argentina national team following their extra-time defeat in the FIFA 2026 World Cup final and passing of his father Jorge. Stating he had 'nothing left to give' after leading Argentina to the final with eight goals and four assists. Four years on from lifting the trophy in Qatar, leading Argentina to their first World Cup success after Diego Maradona led them to the trophy in 1986.

ARGENTINA ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!! 🇦🇷#FIFAWorldCup | #Qatar2022

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) December 18, 2022

And this international break will see Messi take to the pitch for the final time as an Argentina player, bringing the curtain down on an international career that has seen everything.

Messi's Last Dance for Argentina

Messi announced his decision to retire from international football weeks following the conclusion of the FIFA World Cup final, with it initally expected that would be his final appearence in the blue and white. However, following Messi's announcement Argentina arranged a special match for Messi's farewell. With the 39 year-old called up specfially for the fixture, and will not appear in Argentina's next matches.

The match will see Argentina take on Benin on Tuesday 6th October at the Estadio Momumental in Buenos Aires, the home stadium of River Plate holding over 80,000 fans.

AFA President Claudiop Tapia stated "We've decided to invite the best player in the world" when the match was announced. Further saying "The icon of our naitonal team, our captain Lionel Messi, so that he can recieve the goodbye he truly deserves here, in Argentina."

And exictement, expectation and emotion has already poured out ahead of the fixture. Adidsa, the offical kit manufactuar of the Argentina national team, has created a special edition shirt to be worn specifically for the match.

And tickets for the special fixture vs Benin have been treated like gold dust, with Deportick, the website in which tickets for the fixtuer was being sold through, crashing within minutes of sales opening due to not being able to cope with the volume of traffic as millions tried to secure themsleves a ticket.

It did not take long for the 80,000+ avaiable seats at the Estadio Monumental to be snapped up, with reports saying that the fixture was sold out within two hours of sales initally going live for supporters.

The Curtain Falls On a Rollercoaster

As the chapter of Messi's international career closes as a national icon following the 2022 World Cup success, it seems crazy to think that at one stage the feelings towards Messi from many Argentina supporters was rather different, and rather difficult.

The early stages of Messi's international carrer was defined by pain, and in fact, got off to the worst possible start on his debut vs Hungary back in August 2005, as the then teenager was substituted onto the pitch on 64 minutes, only to be sent off two minutes later.

🚨 𝐎𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐀𝐋: A detailed look at Lionel Messi’s special shirt for his farewell game 🇦🇷🥹

Messi will play his final Argentina game against Benin at the Monumental on October 6 ✨

Tickets for the historic night reportedly sold out in just 𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗜𝗡𝗨𝗧𝗘𝗦 🤯🎟️… pic.twitter.com/ixdckLqLpH

— 433 (@433) September 25, 2026

From then of course, Messi grew to be the best player in the world, winning everything with FC Barcelona. However for Argentina, it was a very different story, failing to win either the Copa America or FIFA World Cup with final defeats in both. leading many back in his home nation to question whether he will ever live up to the legend of Maradona.

Until finally, his first major international honour came in 2021, winning that year's Copa America, defeating Brazil in the final.

A year on, and Messi and Argentina's ultimate dream would finally be realised as the forward lifted the World Cup trophy in Qatar, completing his legacy as the greatest player to ever play the beautiful game, and finally win the hearts of all in Argentina.

In total, Messi has made 207 appearences for Argentina, with the match against Benin in Argentina's capital set to be his 208th and final match for the national team, where Messi could add to his 125 goals for Argentina, which has him as the nations all-time record goalscorer.

Messi has won a total of four senior honours with the Argentina national team, winning two Copa America's in 2021 and 2024, as well as tasting victory in the Finalissima in 2022 and of course that year's World Cup, where Messi also won the Golden Ball.

Messi's Final Match Full Details

• Date: Tuesday, 6th October 2026
• Opponent: Benin
• Stadium: Estadio Monumental, Buenos Aires
• Time: 9pm (BST)