Messi cried on the bus, then scored his last goal for Argentina

The tears started before a ball was kicked.

As Argentina's team bus pulled up to the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on Tuesday night, cameras caught Lionel Messi crying in his seat. It was his last ride to a stadium as an Argentina player. Inside, more than 85,000 people were waiting to say goodbye.

By the end of the night he had set up two goals, scored a penalty and given a speech that left grown footballers wiping their eyes. Argentina beat Benin 3-0. The result barely mattered. The night was about one man and 21 years.

What happened in Messi's last game for Argentina?

It was a friendly, and nobody pretended otherwise. Argentina's football association arranged the match against Benin for one reason, to let Messi leave the way he wanted. Fans called it "the last tango".

The first half was goalless. Benin's goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou kept out a Messi free kick in the 26th minute and saved another shot on the break, and for a while it looked like the night might end without the moment everyone came for.

Then the second half began, and Messi took over.

In the 48th minute he swung in a corner and Nicolás Otamendi headed it home. In the 61st he slid a pass to Nico Paz, who had been on the pitch for two minutes, and Paz curled it in. Ten minutes later Agustín Giay was fouled in the box. Messi stepped up and scored.

Photo: J Dimas / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Why did the game stop in the 10th minute?

Ten is his number. So in the 10th minute the match paused.

Fireworks went up, the whole stadium rose, and the standing ovation went on and on. Benin's players walked over to shake his hand. Nobody in the ground was in any hurry to restart.

The tributes had started long before kickoff. In Rosario, the city where Messi was born, a helicopter towed a giant number 10 shirt across the sky, about 185 miles northwest of Buenos Aires. A 38-metre shirt carrying one word, "Gracias", hung in his hometown. Landmarks across the capital glowed sky blue and white.

When the anthem played, Messi stood with his three sons, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro. He cried. So did coach Lionel Scaloni, who had predicted exactly this a few weeks earlier. "It will be hard not to cry that day," Scaloni said. "It's a privilege to be there."

What did Messi say after his final game?

When the final whistle went, a drone show lit up the sky with his face, his number and the 2022 World Cup trophy. Then Messi took the microphone.

He started by admitting he could barely talk. His father, Jorge, died recently at 68, and he went there first. "The first thing I think about is my old man," he said.

Then came the line quoted everywhere by morning. "Not coming back is going to hurt so much," he said. "I swear I'd like to keep coming for the rest of my life, because playing for the Argentina national team is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you."

He called it a huge source of pride to wear the shirt for more than 20 years. To the crowd he said simply, "I just want to tell you that I love you and I'll miss you."

What did Messi tell his Argentina teammates?

The speech that hit hardest was meant for the dressing room.

"Tough times are coming, because not everything we've achieved has been easy," he told the squad, according to CBS Sports. "That's when we have to stay united more than ever. There are a lot of people who want the Argentine National Team to do poorly, and we can't give them the satisfaction."

Teammates were reportedly in tears. One of them was saying goodbye too. Otamendi, who scored the opening goal, also retired from international football after 17 years playing alongside Messi.

Scaloni summed up what Argentina is losing. "We can put together a great squad with the new guys coming up," he said, "but I've never seen that aura in anyone else in my life. That presence he creates won't be there anymore."

How many goals did Messi score for Argentina?

The penalty against Benin was his 126th goal for Argentina, in his 208th game. Both are national records. CBS Sports also counts 62 assists.

He leaves with the trophy that defined him, the 2022 World Cup, plus Copa América titles in 2021 and 2024. He played at six World Cups, a record he shares with Cristiano Ronaldo, and scored 21 goals at the tournament. He has eight Ballon d'Or awards, more than anyone in history.

For the record keepers, Ronaldo still holds the men's international scoring mark with 146 goals in 234 games for Portugal. Messi never seemed to mind.

Photo: Py4nf / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

Why is everyone so emotional about Messi leaving?

Because for years this was a love story that almost didn't work out.

His Argentina debut in 2005, against Hungary, ended with a red card within two minutes of coming on. For more than a decade he lost final after final with his country, while winning everything with Barcelona. After a Copa América final defeat to Chile in 2016 he quit the national team, then changed his mind weeks later. He kept turning up anyway.

It paid off. The Copa América in 2021. The World Cup in Qatar in 2022, won on penalties after a 3-3 final against France. Another Copa América in 2024.

His last competitive game was harder. In July, Argentina lost the 2026 World Cup final 1-0 to Spain in New Jersey, despite Messi's 8 goals and 4 assists at the tournament. He announced his international retirement on 31 August. Tuesday was the goodbye that final never gave him.

How much were tickets for Messi's farewell?

The demand was wild. Tickets sold out in 90 minutes at face prices of $60 to $300, and were later resold for more than $2,500.

By Wednesday Messi was trending in the United States and around the world, in a week when English football was busy arguing over how hard to punish Manchester City. His family watched from the stands next to World Cup winners from 1978, 1986 and 2022. Singer Soledad Pastorutti performed a tribute. The referee even handed Messi a yellow and a red card as souvenirs, a wink, perhaps, at the red card that started it all.

What happens to Messi now?

He is not done with football. Messi is 39 and under contract with Inter Miami in Major League Soccer through the 2028 season. He recently lifted the Campeones Cup, his fourth trophy with the club, and his focus now shifts entirely to Florida.

Argentina has to work out life without him for the first time since 2005.

But the last image is the one people will keep. A man who cried on the bus, then did everything one more time. Corner, assist. Pass, assist. Penalty, goal. A stadium of 85,000 chanting his name, and one last line into the microphone. "I'm going to miss defending the national team's colors."

They will miss watching him do it even more.