On Tuesday, October 6, Lionel Messi will play his last ever match in an Argentina jersey, and it's hard to even begin to wrap your brain around the end of one of the most incredible soccer legacies in the history of the sport. After winning the 2022 World Cup, Messi achieved the last milestone his career was missing and changed his legacy with the national team he represented since 2005, when he made his name known in the world at the 2005 Under-20 World Cup. Then he stuck around for four more years and finished second in 2026 just for good measure.
Since he made his debut with Argentina and with Barcelona in Spain, Messi was considered one of the most promising talents around, but being from Argentina also meant that he faced eternal comparison with the legend of legends, Diego Armando Maradona. Despite winning everything he could with Barcelona, his first decade with the Argentinian national team was challenging and ultimately led to his initial decision to retire from the national team after losing two Copa America finals in a row in 2015 and 2016. The ongoing comparison with his idol definitely touched him, as he couldn't bring the same joy that Maradona brought to the millions of Argentinian fans in 1986, when Argentina won the World Cup in Mexico.
Eventually, his nation coaxed him back, and by 2021 things started to change for the better. Messi won his first-ever Copa America, followed by the success of the 2022 World Cup. In that World Cup, Messi scored seven goals, won the World Cup, and was named player of the tournament before also winning his last Ballon d'Or in 2023.
In 2024, he won another Copa America, beating Colombia in the final, marking one of the greatest cycles in the history of Argentinian soccer. Amazingly that run was almost topped with the 2026 World Cup, but Argentina lost in the final to Spain. Only a few weeks after the defeat in the final, Messi announced his retirement, which followed the news of the death of his father, Jorge.
From the moment Messi debuted, there was always a comparison with his idol and the most iconic Argentine player in history, Maradona. Would Messi become the new Maradona? That was the question everyone seemed to be asking, a question that quickly evolved into a bigger one: Is Messi better than Maradona?
The debate only intensified after Messi led Argentina to World Cup glory in 2022, and it's still a topic today, and probably will be for a long time. Before answering that question, we should reflect on what Maradona meant for Argentina in the 1980's. Maradona embodied the soccer player's mentality of those years, and was an unapologetic public figure, no small thing given the political context of those years.
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