From the first red card to breaking the curse: unforgettable moments in Messi's journey with Argentina

Everyone remembers Messi dropping to his knees the instant Gonzalo Montiel buried the decisive penalty against France to crown Argentina champions of the 2022 World Cup.

Argentina had waited 36 years for this. Messi delivered it, adding the one trophy that had eluded him to a glittering list of honours.

In the final itself, he was everywhere. Two goals in normal time, then the first penalty of the shootout, tucked away to set Argentina on their way.

More than 15 years of international service had led to this: the most important win of his life.

How would Messi perform at the 2026 World Cup, aged 39? Plenty asked the question. He had set himself an extraordinary bar with his historic triumph four years earlier, and he answered the doubters in the United States with one outstanding display after another.

History beckoned again. Messi became the World Cup's all-time top scorer when he found the net against Austria in Argentina's group-stage match, taking his tally to 18 goals.

Argentina's captain arrived at the game on 16, having struck a hat-trick in the opener against Algeria, and he needed just one goal to break his tie with Germany legend Miroslav Klose.

A missed penalty early on threatened to derail him. Messi shrugged it off and scored twice.

Kylian Mbappé eventually overtook him, the France star finishing the tournament on 22 goals, but most fans will remember the night against Austria, when Messi made history.

Monday was not the first time Messi had announced his retirement from playing for the Argentina national team. Back in 2016, the Inter Miami captain walked away after losing the Copa America final to Chile, stunning the journalists gathered in the mixed zone after the match.

Messi told a group of journalists: "My thinking now, and after thinking about it in the dressing room, is that I'm done playing for the national team."

He added: "I gave it my all. This is the fourth time I've played in a final and I couldn't win it. I tried everything possible. This hurts me more than anyone else, but it's clear that this isn't for me. I want, more than anyone else, to win a title with the national team, but unfortunately it didn't happen."

That exile did not last. Messi came back to write history, winning two straight editions of the Copa America and the World Cup while shattering individual records.

The 16th of June 2006 changed the course of World Cup history forever. An 18-year-old Messi made the first of his many World Cup appearances that day, coming on as a substitute for Argentina against Serbia and Montenegro in the 74th minute of a group-stage clash.

He wasted no time proving himself on the international stage. Within minutes of stepping onto the pitch, Messi had scored, and he finished the match with a goal and an assist as Argentina romped to a 6-0 win.

It was the first of many happy moments he would give the Argentina fans.

Argentina's history could have taken a completely different course had it not been for Messi's stunning goal against Mexico during the World Cup in Qatar.

Facing the threat of a group-stage exit in their final match, Argentina went in level at the break. The second half was where they had to make the difference.

Messi settled it. In the 64th minute, he lashed a rocket of a left-footed strike into the net to spark a 2-0 win, a result that ultimately helped set Argentina on their way to lifting the title.

Messi reached his first World Cup final in 2014, when Argentina met Germany. He played a pivotal role after his side held firm, but Mario Gotze settled it in extra time.

Defeat didn't stop Messi from claiming the Golden Ball, a reward for his outstanding displays across the tournament. He scored four goals and provided one assist in seven matches at the 2014 World Cup.

From that moment, Messi vowed to come back stronger and win the World Cup for Argentina. He managed it eight years later.

Messi fell short in 2007, 2015 and 2016. Then, as Argentina captain, he finally got his hands on the 2021 Copa América trophy.

A 1-0 win over Brazil at the historic Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro crowned Argentina champions, ending a 28-year wait for a title.

Six years took Messi from two painful final defeats to lifting the very trophy that had once pushed him to announce his international retirement.

Messi, then 18 years old, played his first match for the Argentina national team on 17 August 2005, in a friendly against Hungary in the capital, Budapest.

Conflicting emotions swept over the teenager that day. He came on as a second-half substitute and was shown a straight red card seconds later.

It was hardly the perfect start. But Messi made up for that sending-off many times over across decades of brilliance.

Two of the greatest players in the history of football came together in 2010, when Diego Maradona took charge of the young Lionel Messi with the Argentina national team at the World Cup.

Argentina's campaign was hardly one to remember on the pitch. They crashed out against Germany in the quarter-finals. Off the pitch, though, the tournament left its mark.

For Argentines, it was the only chance to watch the two captains most closely associated with the history of the national team join forces in some way at a World Cup.

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Argentina's fans will never forget the victory over their historic rivals England in the semi-final of the 2026 World Cup.

Messi said: "Even though it was just one match, we lived through some special moments. The fans wanted this win more than any other, because of what it means to face England in the semi-final and to reach another World Cup final."

Two Messi assists turned the tie around. Argentina came from behind to win 2-1 and book their place in the final.

The captain also matched Diego Maradona's record by getting the better of England on the international stage, 40 years after the victory in the quarter-final of the 1986 World Cup, the match that gave the world the "Hand of God" and the "Goal of the Century".

Spain's 1-0 victory over Argentina in the 2026 World Cup final brought Messi's international career to a painful end.

Messi battled for more than 120 minutes despite the psychological and physical exhaustion, but Argentina fell agonisingly short of a second successive World Cup title.

Defeat in the final will not define this tournament for him. The 2026 World Cup will forever be linked to Messi's ability to break records and make history at the age of 39.

Right up until the final minute, in his last tournament with Argentina, Messi kept giving everything he had for the millions of fans watching around the world.