{"id":44304,"date":"2026-09-01T14:04:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:04:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/?post_type=news&#038;p=44304"},"modified":"2026-09-01T14:11:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:11:30","slug":"no-fairytale-ending-but-messi-leaves-defining-legacy-for-argentina","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/news\/no-fairytale-ending-but-messi-leaves-defining-legacy-for-argentina\/","title":{"rendered":"No fairytale ending, but Messi leaves defining legacy for Argentina"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Lionel Messi brought down the curtain on his extraordinary international career on Monday, announcing his retirement soon after inspiring Argentina to within one victory of a second successive World \u200bCup triumph.<\/div>\n<div>At 39, two decades after first appearing on football\u2019s biggest stage, Messi walked away having long since repaired a complicated relationship with his country that once threatened \u200cto define his career.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The record eight-times Ballon d\u2019Or winner leaves as a World Cup winner and twice Copa America champion, the man who stepped out of Diego Maradona\u2019s immense shadow to create an Argentine legacy entirely his own.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Defeat by Spain in this year&#8217;s World Cup final denied Messi the perfect farewell and the chance to become a world champion for a second time. But after a career that transformed Barcelona, Argentina and the modern game itself, there was precious little \u200bleft to prove.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Four years earlier in Qatar, he lifted the trophy he had pursued throughout his career, scoring seven goals in the tournament and twice in the final against France \u200bbefore Argentina prevailed on penalties.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>It was the crowning moment of a remarkable career, and also the culmination of one of football\u2019s most compelling stories \u2060of perseverance.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>For all his success at Barcelona, where his brilliance brought him every major individual and collective honour available, Messi\u2019s relationship with the Argentina shirt was for years defined as much by what \u200bhe had not won as by what he had achieved.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He reached the 2014 World Cup final in Brazil only for Argentina to lose to Germany in extra time, before successive Copa America final \u200bdefeats in 2015 and 2016 deepened the sense that international glory might elude him.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>After the second of those defeats, against Chile on penalties, a devastated Messi briefly walked away.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8220;The national team is over for me,&#8221; he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Messi returned and, gradually, the story changed.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Under Lionel Scaloni, Argentina built a team around their captain without becoming entirely dependent on him, surrounding their ageing number 10 with the energy, aggression and collective commitment that allowed \u200bhis genius to flourish.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The breakthrough came at the 2021 Copa America, when Argentina beat Brazil at the Maracana to give Messi his first major senior international trophy.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The World Cup followed 18 months later.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Messi \u200bwas magnificent in Qatar, producing goals, assists and moments of inspiration as Argentina recovered from a shock opening defeat by Saudi Arabia to reach the final.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He scored twice against France before converting his penalty in the \u200cshootout, finally \u2060lifting the trophy that had become the missing piece in his claim to stand alongside, or above, the greatest players in the sport.<\/div>\n<div>For Argentina, the triumph also completed Messi\u2019s transformation.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>&#8211;Reuters&#8211;<\/div>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44306,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[20],"class_list":["post-44304","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-sport","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"He scored twice against France before converting his penalty in the \u200cshootout.","published_date":"","news_description":"He scored twice against France before converting his penalty in the \u200cshootout.","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44304","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44304\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44307,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/44304\/revisions\/44307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44304"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=44304"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}