Messi s farewell night: 2 goals and 1 assist, a perfect curtain call at the Monument Stadium

At the Monument Stadium, Messi scored twice and assisted once, helping Argentina defeat Venezuela 3-0. After the game, he personally confirmed that this will be the last official game he played on behalf of the national team on the local level. A night full of emotion and glory is frozen.

Argentina's "Ole" pointed out that this is a complete celebration. Although no one could have been sure whether this was really the official curtain call for Messi at the Memorial Stadium, at that moment, nothing mattered. Messi once again is like the never-ending Santa Claus, giving fans endless joy. Even though this game carries complex emotions, as long as he steps on the court, he can stand on the altar again in just a few minutes and declare to the world that the throne of "the world's number one" has been shaken to this day.

Although the ID card says 38 years old, and although his legs no longer completely obey the command of the brain, Messi is still the banner of the Argentine national team, and is still writing his own legend - two goals, one assist, and that suffocating magic moment. And this, as he said in person after the game, was his last official game on the motherland's land for representing the national team.

For this special night, Messi made sufficient preparations and gave this game extraordinary significance. Before the game, when he publicly stated on the training ground at Miami International that "this will be the last domestic game I will fight for points", people realized that this was by no means an ordinary game. This is not another game in his 194 national team career, but a night when he took the initiative to choose and personally gave him special value.

Although his physical condition is not ideal, and even muscle discomfort that lasts for more than ten days, Messi has already told the people closest to him: he must come to participate in the competition. This game may be more important to Venezuela, but for Messi, what is more important at this moment is to feel the love and support from the motherland. He has gone through more than 20 years of glorious career and has witnessed countless cheers and applause, but this time, he wants his children to experience all this.

Because of this, he specially arranged for the children to temporarily leave the warm Miami and come to the cold nights in Buenos Aires. What is even more touching is that for the first time in his career, he walked into the court with his three sons in an official game. While warming up before the game, Messi's eyes instantly moistened when the fans of the court began to shout his name. He tried hard to restrain his emotions, looking up at the stands—where he sat all his family: Antonella, his father Jorge, his mother Celia, his three brothers, his brother-in-law, his nephews...all gathered together. At that moment, his life flashed in front of his eyes like a movie: the setbacks, ruthless criticism, and regrets that came out of the pillars until the barriers were finally broken, and the champion poured down like a waterfall. This national team led by him has been the strongest in the world in the past five years.

He choked up several times during the warm-up. After returning to the locker room, he took a deep breath and tried to calm down the turmoil in his heart. After a deep hug with the team's equipment master Marito, another "explosion point" was waiting for him - wearing a blue and white battle robe and captain's armband, the three children were waiting at the end of the passage. The scene at that moment was extremely warm: father and son hugged each other, whispered softly, and even the moment he sorted out his hair for his youngest son Matteo... When the national anthem was played, Messi, surrounded by children, kept licking his lips with his tongue, trying to suppress his surging emotions. He didn't really turn his attention to the game until the kids left. However, at the beginning, he seemed unfamiliar and disconnected, and made repeated mistakes in passing, as if every touch of the ball was a long farewell. The game was dull for a while, and Argentina's offense did not improve, until Taliafico's left foot shot with a strong and heavy foot.

But Messi is always trustworthy. When the cold nights became colder and the court became quieter, the 10th stood up and rekindled everyone's enthusiasm. Paredes intercepted the ball and sent out an accurate pass. Alvarez made a dexterity and Messi poked the ball lightly in the double-team of four defensive players and sent the ball into the net! This is his 114th goal in the national team, setting a new record again: he tied Ivan Urtado and became the player with the most appearances in World Cup qualifiers with 72 games; this is also his first goal in 2025; what is even more incredible is that he achieved the feat of having national team scored goals for 20 consecutive years.

Even on such a special night, he still maintained his usual humility. After scoring the goal, he did not celebrate wildly, but as usual, he turned around and found assister Alvarez, thanked him, slapped his teammates, and finally raised his arms slowly and looked into the sky - this ball dedicated to the grandmother Celia who brought him to the world of football and loved him deeply forever, the old man who took him to the Granddoli training ground when he was four years old.

In the second half, we finally saw the familiar "top Messi". This has become his recent norm: he is slow to warm up in the first half and explodes in the second half. He missed the opportunity to expand the score at one point, but then he seemed to replicate the classic scene of Maradona's 1994 match against Nigeria, assisting Lautaro with a precise pass to score. Finally, he personally secured the victory and scored the third goal, proving once again that he is the master of eternal glory.

Argentine media said that no one knows whether this is really the last one, but what is important is that we are witnessing, feeling and cherishing. There is only one wish in people's hearts: I hope Messi can play forever. And in the future, whether he participates in the sixth World Cup or not, it is no longer important. At this moment, we just want to say: Messi, please shine forever.