Messi's final Argentina match: How he left the 'next Maradona' label behind and built his own legacy

Lionel Messi will play his final match for Argentina on Tuesday, October 6, in a farewell match against Benin. The night brings the curtain down on more than twenty years of international football from a player who went from gifted prodigy to the defining figure of the Albiceleste. With the 2022 World Cup and the Copa America titles of 2021 and 2024, his place in Argentina's story is secured.

• Argentina faces Benin on October 6 in Messi's last match with the national team.
• He broke through at the 2005 Under-20 World Cup and made his senior debut the same year.
• He won the Copa America in 2021 and 2024, plus the World Cup in 2022, along with another Ballon d'Or in 2023.
• Argentina came close to completing the cycle with the 2026 World Cup, but lost the final to Spain.
• Messi announced his international retirement shortly after that defeat and the death of his father, Jorge.

The burden of being Maradona's successor

From his earliest days at Barcelona and in Argentina's youth ranks, Messi was marked as the most exciting talent of his generation. But growing up as an Argentine footballer meant carrying something else: an endless comparison with Diego Armando Maradona. For years, every match with the national team became a test of whether he was the worthy heir of the icon who led Argentina to the world title in Mexico in 1986.

From international retirement to a complete reset

Messi's first decade with Argentina was difficult. Despite winning everything at club level, the national team kept slipping away. Back-to-back Copa America final defeats in 2015 and 2016, both against Chile, pushed him to announce his international retirement. The pressure and constant criticism took their toll. Argentina eventually convinced him to return, and everything began to change in 2021.

The 2021 turning point

That year brought his first Copa America title with the senior side. It was Messi's first major trophy with Argentina and the beginning of a completely different chapter. The burden started to feel lighter, and the team found a reliable identity around its captain.

The 2022 World Cup and full vindication

In Qatar, Messi delivered a tournament for the ages: seven goals, the world title and the award for best player of the competition. At 35, in full footballing maturity, he led Argentina to the glory that had escaped him for so long. That triumph reshaped the debate about his figure and his place in the sport's history.

The run did not stop there. In 2024 he lifted the Copa America again after beating Colombia in the final, cementing one of the most impressive cycles the national team has ever produced. The perfect ending almost arrived in 2026, but Argentina fell to Spain in the World Cup final. Another title ended up just out of reach.

Why Maradona's shadow was so heavy for Argentina

To understand the comparison, it helps to remember what Maradona meant to Argentina in the 1980s. His persona fitted a country emerging from a military dictatorship that lasted from 1976 to 1983 and left thousands of victims. After the defeat in the Falklands War and the collapse of the junta, Argentina returned to democracy. In that context, the 1986 World Cup carried enormous political and emotional weight.

The quarterfinal against England became a national symbol. The handball goal and the so-called goal of the century defined an era. When Maradona was suspended at the 1994 World Cup after a failed drug test, the whole country backed him. In Naples, where he played from 1984 to 1991 and won the club's first two Serie A titles, he was treated like royalty. During the 1990 World Cup semifinal at the stadium that now bears his name, much of the local crowd cheered for Argentina and Maradona against Italy.

Maradona was more than a footballer for Argentina. He was a national hero, and Messi was always measured against that mold.

Opposite personalities and a legacy beyond comparison

Maradona and Messi crossed paths at several moments. Maradona watched Messi's World Cup debut in 2006 from the stands, smiling. Four years later, as head coach, he oversaw Argentina's elimination by Germany in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals, with Messi failing to score during the tournament. That partnership never worked, and the 4-0 defeat ended Maradona's time in charge.

Their characters were always very different. Maradona was larger than life, a public figure whose presence went far beyond the pitch. Messi, by contrast, has appeared entirely devoted to football and has been judged almost exclusively by results. When those results did not arrive, the criticism was relentless. By 2022, at 35, the debate looked settled, but then the trophies started coming one after another.

There was also a shared thread: the way both left the clubs they loved most. Messi spoke in 2020 about wanting to stay at Barcelona, but ended up leaving in 2021 without the farewell he wanted. Maradona left Napoli overnight. Messi's goodbye with Argentina, by contrast, is designed to be the proper farewell that never happened in their club careers.

Argentina bids farewell to Messi on its own terms

The match against Benin on October 6 will close an era. It is also a chance for the Argentine public to return the affection built over more than two decades. The player who began as Maradona's heir no longer needs that label. He was never the new Maradona. He was Messi, and he won on his own terms.