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Leo Messi’s final appearance: Argentina bids farewell to its all-time record scorer
The story coming to an end had it all: surprise and hope, sadness and dismay, the bitterest defeats and the triumphs that brought joy to an entire nation. Twenty-one years ago, Lionel Messi began writing the first page of his story with the Argentina national team, and on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, he will write the last. Between that ill-fated debut against Hungary on August 17, 2005 — when he was sent off 43 seconds after stepping onto the pitch — and the match with Benin that will close his international career, Messi has already become a legend of assured immortality.

© Icon Sportswire (Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Lionel Messi to bid farewell to Argentina national team with a final match in Buenos Aires: ‘The last tango of the world’s best player’
A story that had it all, from painful defeats to everlasting victories, will come to an end. It will happen on October 6, when Lionel Messi plays his final match with the Argentina national team. That day the Albiceleste will face Benin in Buenos Aires in a friendly. “The last tango of the world’s best player,” said the president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), Claudio Tapia.

© Hannah McKay (REUTERS)