BS News Agency: Football fans around the world, including the people of Argentina, will witness a sad moment as soon as Tuesday night. Because at 4:30 am Indian time on Wednesday, the prince of football Lionel Messi will play for the last time in the Argentina jersey. Messi's colorful football career of 21 years will end in a FIFA friendly match against Benin at the Estadio Mas Monumental in Buenos Aires.
The 39-year-old Messi announced his retirement from international football on August 31, after losing to Spain in the final of the FIFA 2026 World Cup. However, the Argentine Football Association wanted to make his departure memorable. At the same time, Messi fans around the world. And so it goes without saying that the fans will flock to the Benin match with the desire to see Messi's magic, they also want Messi to score goals. Argentina is number 2 in the FIFA rankings, while Benin is 89. Benin is coached by Gernot Rohr, who led the Nigerian team in the 2018 FIFA World Cup. And the role of the coach of the Argentina team is being played by the World Cup-winning coach Lionel Scaloni. He has already expressed his desire to be the last coach in Messi's farewell match. Whether Scaloni will remain the coach of the Argentina national team after that will be decided in discussions with him and the Argentine Football Association officials.
Along with captain Messi, defender Nicolas Ota Mendy played a big role in Argentina's victory in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. He will also hang up his boots as usual at the end of the Benin match. Even Argentina midfielders Rodrigo de Paul and Giovani Lo Celso are likely to see their last appearance in the Argentine jersey.
Messi has scored 125 goals in 207 matches for Argentina. Messi holds the gold medal of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the FIFA 2022 Qatar World Cup Champion Trophy, the runners-up in the 2014 and 2026 FIFA World Cups, the 2021 and 2024 Copa America champions and the 2022 Finalissima. What more could a footballer ask for in his playing career?
With countless Messi fans in Argentina, including the people of Bengal, football fans around the world will be watching the magic of the football prince's feet and goals for the last time on the field or on TV screens. But many of them may not remember a special incident in Messi's debut match. Which Messi does not seem to have remembered for the rest of his life. Otherwise, it must be said that the incident of the debut match made Messi great, placed him in the seat of the Greatest of All Footballers.
Messi the Messiah made his debut for the Argentina senior team at the age of just 18 in a FIFA friendly match against Hungary in Budapest on August 17, 2025. The opportunity to play for the senior team came because Messi was the 2005 FIFA U-20 World Cup champion. Messi played an important role in Argentina's victory. Although Argentina won that match against Hungary at the Ferenc Puskas Stadium, Messi's debut that night was not sweet. On the contrary, what happened was very bad. At that time, the coach of the Argentina team was Jose Pekerman. He replaced Messi in the 63rd minute of the match against Hungary.
When Messi entered the field, Argentina was leading 2-1. Argentina had taken the lead first with a goal by Maximiliano Rodriguez. Sandor Torghele equalized for Hungary. Gabriel Heinz's goal put Argentina ahead again. In the end, they won by that score. However, they played with 10 men. The main reason for this was that Messi was forced to leave the field after seeing a red card almost immediately after entering the field in the 63rd minute.
Messi tried to get the ball for the first time and get past Hungarian defender Vilmos Vanczak. Vilmos tried to stop him by pulling Messi's jersey. Messi rushed out with the ball and pushed Vilmos hard on the hand. The referee did not like Messi's aggressive attitude. He thought Messi had deliberately used his hand to hit Vilmos. So he showed Messi a red card for unsportsmanlike behavior. FIFA records state that Messi was on the field for 42 seconds after coming on as a substitute. And the Argentine Football Association records that Messi was on the field for 92 seconds.
However, the amount of time Messi was on the field in his debut match did not have any impact on the future. Rather, Messi has ruled the world with his football magic in Argentina and club jerseys. Pekerman called Messi to the senior national team within a few days of that incident. Messi scored his first goal in the country's jersey on March 1, 2026 for the senior team against Croatia. Messi never had to look back. There have been many ups and downs in his 21-year football career. But Messi has overcome all obstacles and reached the peak of Everest of success. This time, Messi will weave his football magic on the field for the last time.