Messi, the Last Dance: all the record-breaking numbers in an Argentina shirt

Few bonds in football run deeper than the one between Messi and Argentina, and his record-breaking numbers prove it. No one has ever played more matches for the Albiceleste (207), scored more goals (125) or provided more assists (68). He alone has had a hand in 193 goals for the national team, and those numbers look even bigger when you factor in his overall return of more than 900 goals and 400 assists.

For the Seleccion, he won, while playing a huge part, the FIFA U-20 World Cup, Olympic gold in 2008, the Copa America in 2021 and 2024, the CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions in 2022 and, as mentioned, the 2022 World Cup, as captain and the best player of the tournament. The final against France still stands out: he scored twice and brought the most coveted trophy back to Buenos Aires after 36 years. He has featured in 6 World Cups, playing 34 matches and 3064 (both records) and scoring 21 goals, second only to Mbappé. He does, however, hold the record for assists at the World Cup (12) where he was named MVP in both 2014 and 2022. Messi is the youngest player (18 years and 357 days) and also the oldest (38 years and 357 days) to score a goal in a World Cup, the only one to have scored in every stage of a World Cup (group stage, last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final) and the record holder for consecutive goals - nine - in official matches in the competition.

Then there are the individual honours. From a player who has won the Ballon d'Or 8 times and the Golden Shoe 6 times, you almost expect numbers like these. Messi is the top scorer for a South American national team, the highest scorer in the history of the South American qualifiers (36 goals) and the player with the most appearances for Argentina.

And it all began badly, and could easily have ended much earlier. In 2005, when he made his debut at 18 against Hungary, he was sent off after just a few seconds. Then, in 2016, he had already left the national team, before changing his mind. Crushed by the weight of expectation, by the endless comparison with Maradona and by defeat, Messi had said stop. He did so after the Copa America final lost 4-2 on penalties to Chile in 2016. It was the third straight final that he and Argentina had lost, after the one at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, against Germany, and the one in 2015, again against La Roja.

Yet if Messi returned to play for Argentina, and finally to win, the credit goes to Scaloni. He convinced him to come back, built a group around him and gave him back the joy of playing with those who had once looked up to him and then found themselves alongside him. Five years after the farewell, came the triumph. The 2021 Copa America opened a new chapter in his story with Argentina, very different from the one before it. The first continental success, the Finalissima, the World Cup and another Copa America. A remarkable run, stopped only by Spain in the New York final and by time itself, relentless as ever.

"It’s the right time," Messi had said in his farewell letter. But for football fans, it will never really be the right time to let him go.