It was tough watching Lionel Messi break down in tears as he paid an emotional farewell to Argentina supporters in his final competitive home match last night.
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The superstar bowed out with an impressive two-goal performance in a 3-0 victory against Venezuela in front of a raucous sellout crowd at the Estadio Mas Monumental in Buenos Aires, before hinting he could retire ahead of next year’s World Cup
The crowd chanted his name during the warm-ups, while his proud family watched on from the stands. He was then joined by his three sons, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro, for the walkout and national anthems
Now 38, Messi, widely viewed as one of the sport’s greatest-ever players, warned that he would only play at the World Cup if his body allowed him to.
‘Same as I said before about the World Cup that I don’t think I’ll play another,’ he told reporters. ‘Because of my age, the most logical thing is that I won’t make it. But well, we’re almost there, so I’m excited and motivated to play it.
Like I always say, I go day by day, going by how I feel.
‘I’m trying to feel good and, above all, being honest with myself. When I feel good, I enjoy it, but when I don’t, honestly, I don’t have a good time, so I prefer not to be there if I don’t feel good. So we’ll see. I haven’t made a decision about the World Cup.
‘I’ll finish the season, then I’ll have preseason, and there will be six months left.
‘So, we’ll see how I feel. Hopefully, I’ll have a good preseason in 2026 and finish this MLS season well, and then I’ll decide.’
With that said, let’s take a look at the impact of Lionel Messi in the last couple of years for the Alebecelestie, so as to get a clear picture of what the World Cup defending champions stand to miss out on if their favourite No. 10 misses the World Cup next year
Messi’s calendar‐year performance as summarized by MessiFanpage shows:
2024: 12 games, 9 goals, 4 assists.
2023: 8 games, 8 goals, 1 assist.
2022: 14 games, 18 goals, 6 assists.
Goals – Messi vs. Current Teammates (2025)
According to statistics from 11v11 and other data sources for the 2025 calendar year:
Julián Álvarez leads with 4 goals
Lionel Messi follows with 3 goals
Lautaro Martínez, Thiago Almada, Alexis Mac Allister, Giuliano Simeone, Nicolás González, Enzo Fernández, Paulo Dybala, and Nicolás Otamendi each contributed between 1 and 3 goals
Assists – Messi vs Teammates
Per apwin.com summary:
Lionel Messi tops assists among active players with 3 assists
Fellow teammates Exequiel Palacios and Enzo Fernández also have 3 assists each
Additional contributors include Nahuel Molina (2), Giovani Lo Celso (2), Ángel Di María (2), and Julián Álvarez (2)
Conclusion
Messi remains highly productive, contributing both goals and assists consistently as expected from an attacking leader and captain though one can say Argentina isn’t overly reliant on Messi alone, the team depth is notable
Recent comments from coach Lionel Scaloni confirm that the squad has matured and is effective even without Messi’s presence, if Lionel Messi eventually misses the World Cup for physiological reasons, the words of the World Cup winning manager would definitely be put to test
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