The greatest show on Earth is about to take its final bow. On Tuesday, 85,000 souls will pack into Buenos Aires’ Estadio Monumental, a venue whose very name captures the magnitude of the moment, to watch Lionel Messi pull on Argentina’s sky blue-and-white jersey for the last time. After 21 years of breathtaking brilliance, heartbreaking defeats and ultimate redemption, La Pulga is calling time on an international career that has redefined what it means to be an Argentine footballing icon.

This isn’t just a friendly against Benin. This is football folklore being written in real time, a farewell fit for a player who has transcended sport itself. Millions more across the globe will watch on television as the 39-year-old maestro performs his wizardry one final time in the Albiceleste, closing a chapter that began when many of Argentina’s current generation weren’t even born.

The most-capped player in Argentine history is hanging up his international boots two-and-a-half months after the crushing disappointment of losing the World Cup final to Spain, a defeat that, in many ways, made this decision inevitable.

Nothing left to give

“I gave it my all; I have nothing left to give, and besides, there are great young players coming up who deserve their chance,” Messi wrote when announcing his international retirement in August. The words carried the weight of someone who has carried a nation’s footballing dreams on his shoulders for more than two decades.

On Monday, he took part in his final training session with the national team at the complex that bears his name in the Buenos Aires suburb of Ezeiza. Even practice had become pilgrimage, with fans like Nahuel Nieva taking time off work just to catch a glimpse of their hero.

“You can’t ask for more, that’s it,” Nieva, a retail worker, told AFP, his words capturing the bittersweet acceptance washing over Argentine football.

Whilst Messi remains under contract with Inter Miami until 2028, the death of his father Jorge two months ago has cast doubt over even his club future, with the legend revealing he may hang up his boots for good sooner than anticipated.

A sendoff fit for royalty

No effort has been spared for the farewell of a player considered one of the game’s greatest ever. Several of the teammates with whom he reached football’s pinnacle in Qatar will play in Tuesday’s friendly, ensuring Messi’s final act features a supporting cast worthy of the occasion.

Defender Cristian “Cuti” Romero, who will inherit the captain’s armband after the match, midfielders Alexis Mac Allister and Enzo Fernández, and forwards Julián Álvarez and Lautaro Martínez will all feature, providing a bridge between the Messi era and whatever comes next.

And what comes next is showing genuine promise. Coach Lionel Scaloni has vowed to fill the “void” left by his talismanic captain, and the early signs suggest Argentina’s post-Messi future might be brighter than many feared.

The next generation rises

In their first matches since the World Cup final heartbreak, Argentina, playing without Messi, have looked frighteningly good. A 4-0 thrashing of Bolivia in Córdoba on Wednesday was followed by an even more emphatic 7-0 demolition of Burkina Faso at the Monumental on Saturday.

Franco Mastantuono and Gianluca Prestianni, two of Argentina’s brightest emerging talents, both scored their first international goals in the Burkina Faso rout, performances that provided a glimpse of life after the greatest player many of them have ever known.

The results have helped lift the gloom that descended after the World Cup final, when a visibly tired Messi and his teammates were outplayed by Spain and resorted to thuggish tactics that resulted in bans and fines for several players. The defeat stung, but it also clarified what everyone already suspected: it was time.

The numbers that define greatness

Messi isn’t just Argentina’s record appearance-maker, he’s redefined what those numbers can mean. With 125 goals in 207 games and a record 68 assists, La Pulga hasn’t just played for Argentina; he’s been their beating heart, their creative engine, their talisman in moments when inspiration seemed impossible.

He won the eternal gratitude of Argentines, and sealed his place as rightful heir to Diego Maradona, in 2022 when he ended their 36-year World Cup drought in Qatar. That triumph alone would have been enough to cement legendary status, but it was merely the crowning achievement in a trophy haul that includes the 2005 World Youth Championship, the 2008 under-23 Olympic gold, Copa América titles in 2021 and 2024, and the 2022 Finalissima.

Tears along the way

But the road to immortality was paved with heartbreak. The tears after Argentina’s defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil. The shock humiliation against Chile in the 2016 Copa América final. And most recently, the loss to Spain in this year’s World Cup final that proved to be the final straw.

For every moment of transcendent brilliance, there was a reminder that even Messi couldn’t bend football to his will every single time. That he came so close so often, that he eventually delivered the ultimate prize in Qatar, only makes the story more compelling.

The coveted number 10

One question remains unanswered as Tuesday’s farewell approaches: who will inherit Messi’s coveted number 10 jersey?

“Until Leo’s game, we won’t give the number 10 to anyone,” said Scaloni, acknowledging the weight of that particular shirt. “After that, we’ll see.”

It’s a burden no Argentine player will accept lightly. Following Maradona would have been daunting enough; following Messi, who himself followed Maradona, is almost unthinkable.

The end of an era

Tuesday night at the Monumental isn’t just about a football match. It’s about closure, celebration and gratitude. It’s about 85,000 people saying thank you to someone who gave them memories they’ll carry to their graves. It’s about a nation acknowledging that they’ve witnessed greatness in its purest form.

Messi’s international career has been monumental in every sense, fitting, then, that it ends at the stadium bearing that very name. As the final whistle blows and the sky blue-and-white number 10 jersey is removed for the last time, Argentine football will turn the page on its greatest chapter.

What comes next remains to be written. But what came before? That was pure magic.