Argentina start post-Messi era with friendlies against Bolivia and Burkina Faso

Argentina begin writing their future without Lionel Messi. Before the formal tribute against Benin, Lionel Scaloni's team play two friendlies that mark the real start of a new era, no longer featuring the player who for more than a decade was the most effective emergency solution football has ever known.

• Messi will have his definitive farewell in a friendly against Benin one week after these two matches.
• Scaloni has called up 35 players: 20 from the last World Cup squad and 12 with three caps or fewer.
• The 4-1 win over Brazil in March 2025, played without Messi, is the great reference point for Argentina's collective potential.
• Defence and full-back positions are at the center of the renewal, with Agustín Giay and Román Vega as options for the future.
• The captain's retirement forces a tactical rethink: Scaloni could move to traditional wingers or keep the current fluid interior movement.

When and how Lionel Messi says goodbye to Argentina

Messi's final farewell now has a date. The captain will return for a tribute friendly against Benin, a match designed as a formal send-off before the home crowd. Before that, however, Argentina play two games that will serve as the first real rehearsal for life without their leader.

Unlike 2016, when the number ten announced his international retirement after missing a penalty in the Copa América final shootout against Chile and a massive public campaign convinced him to reverse course, there is no going back this time. Messi is 39 years old. That earlier decision was reversed with a six-year horizon in mind, and in the end it lasted ten. The break is real now.

What Argentina lose without the Messi factor in difficult moments

The best example of what Messi meant as a rescue resource came almost at the end of his World Cup journey. In the last-16 tie, Argentina trailed Egypt 2-0 with eleven minutes left. That was when the star, as Barcelona youth coaches used to say, got his face on and became unstoppable. The team ended up winning without needing extra time.

That ability to fix a match going wrong was the Albiceleste's true security blanket. Even in the dark years, during the spells under Edgardo Bauza or Jorge Sampaoli, there was always the possibility that Messi would sort out a tie or a qualifying campaign. That resource, the most reliable in football, is no longer available.

Scaloni's project for the post-Messi cycle

The future starts with the friendlies against Bolivia and Burkina Faso. Lionel Scaloni, who has hinted at a contract renewal through the 2028 Copa América with an option for the 2030 World Cup, leads the transition, just as he opened a new era after the 2018 World Cup.

Of the 35 players called up, 20 were at the last World Cup, a remarkable level of continuity considering Leandro Paredes and Nahuel Molina are serving long suspensions. Nicolás Tagliafico, at 34, is weighing his future, while Rodrigo De Paul and Giovani Lo Celso, both now in their thirties, will only play in the Benin tribute. That creates room for the new generation.

Young players targeting spots in central defence and at full-back

The most immediate renewal is at the back. Cristian Romero and Lisandro Martínez, both 28, look set as the first-choice centre-back pairing, but competition for the backup roles is open with Valentín Gómez of Real Betis and Tomás Palacios, on loan at Estudiantes from Inter Milan.

The real focus, however, is on the full-backs. With Molina suspended, Tagliafico nearing the end and Gonzalo Montiel injured, two 22-year-olds can stake a claim for the future: Agustín Giay of Palmeiras and Román Vega of Zenit Saint Petersburg.

The tactical dilemma without Messi: mobile playmakers or pure wingers

Messi's absence also raises questions about the system. The 4-1 against Brazil in March 2025, the best performance of the Scaloni era without the captain, showed that the movement between Alexis Mac Allister, Enzo Fernández, Rodrigo De Paul and Thiago Almada can dismantle any opponent, with Leandro Paredes anchoring and Julián Álvarez up front.

Still, the coach could lean towards bringing back more traditional wide players. And there are new faces for that too: Leonel Flores of Boca Juniors and Matías Soulé of Roma are likely to make their debuts in the coming days.

Why Messi's farewell goes beyond football

No player replaces Messi, neither tactically nor emotionally. There is even a purist argument: that Brazil match without the ten showed an Argentina that was perhaps more fluid, without the need to build every move around a player who, in his later years, demanded less movement.

The danger of relying on an individualist is always there, but Messi was so spectacularly consistent that the most sensible option was to hand him the game. His true rarity was not the talent, but the reliability. However well organised a defence was, there was always a real chance he would find a gap. However bad things were, there was always the possibility he would get his face on and sort it all out single-handed.

Many teams have found new fluency, a more collective rhythm, after a major star has moved on. The ceiling of this Argentina, at least as a unit, could even rise. But Messi offered a certainty, a route to salvation in the face of disaster, that will be sorely missed.