One Last Night at the Monumental: Messi’s Argentina Farewell vs. Benin With Serie A Stars In Attendance
All good things come to an end. Such is life and such is football. Lionel Messi has been the best footballer of his generation, and probably beyond that, with very few others standing on the same hill as him. Now we bid farewell to the GOAT, at least in international football. October 6th, 2026, will be the last time any of us can watch the diminutive Argentine in the La Albiceleste No. 10 shirt. In what will be his 208th appearance for the Argentine national team, Messi & Co will face Benin at River Plate’s Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires.
This friendly match will serve as a farewell game, and all tickets for the 85,000-seat stadium have been sold. Messi’s last match for Argentina is not against any of the national team’s fiercest rivals, but it will have special meaning for many. The Argentina vs. Benin fixture is one of the three that Argentina will play in October, with the other two being duels vs. Bolivia in Córdoba on 30th of September, and vs. Burkina Faso on 3rd of October.
What sparked the Organisation of Messi’s Retirement Game?
For most fans of the Argentine superstar, his appearance against Spain was considered the last he would ever make for the national team. The defeat in the 2026 World Cup final was tough for the entire nation to bear, and Messi was no one to take it lightly. At the New York/New Jersey MetLife Stadium, Ferran Torres scored in the 106th minute, and gifted Spain another WC trophy. It appeared as if Messi’s Argentina was destined to lose the final with a 1:0 score after Germany defeated them with the same score back in 2014. The most recent defeat was even more bitter, as the entire team managed only two shots (0.2 xG) during the match. It was a painful defeat, and because of its severity and Lionel’s advanced age, both fans and pundits believed it was his last match for Argentina.
Luckily, we were all wrong. Not even his farewell message considered this date and the Benin vs. Argentina fixture. In late August, Messi addressed his fans on social media with a farewell message. He wrote it only two days after the World Cup Final, but Messi waited for the official announcement because of his father’s poor medical condition. He came forward on August 31st and said, “After all this time since the final, and after thinking about it a lot, I want to tell everyone that I’m retiring from the national team.” His full message was one of hurt and deep emotions, but it felt right, as he concluded: “Thank you, God, for making me Argentine.” Lionel is not one to backtrack on his word, but this time he did it for all the right reasons.
Messi’s international retirement will be official once the fixture vs. Benin is concluded. The idea to have Messi play this match comes from the Argentine Football Association. After a two-decade career that includes winning the 2022 World Cup and Copa America triumphs in 2021 and 2024, it’s the least that the 39-year-old legend of the game deserves. In the words of the country’s FA president Claudio Tapia: “We made the decision to invite the best player in the world, the symbol of our national team, our captain, Lionel Andres Messi, so that he can have the farewell he truly deserves on October 6 here in Argentina.”
Who’s Invited to Play in Argentina vs. Benin Duel?
Lionel Messi bid farewell to the competitive side of international football, a decision taken seriously by both the Argentine Football Association and the team’s head coach, Lionel Scaloni. For Messi, it will be a testimonial duel, but for Scaloni, the match vs. Benin and the other two friendlies against Bolivia and Burkina Faso will be an opportunity to prepare his team for the post-Messi era.
Because these games will serve more of a purpose than simply saying goodbye to Messi, Scaloni decided to call up 35 players. This number far exceeds what’s needed for a few ordinary friendlies. It’s because one of these games is more than a friendly. The main reason why 35 players were invited is that Scaloni gave call-ups to the players he firmly counts on to carry the team in the coming years, to a couple of youngsters who could be the future after Messi, and he assembled the majority of players who were part of the national team back in 2022 when they took home the FIFA World Cup trophy in Qatar.
Eventually, the list was cut to 28 names for the three friendlies. Those who made the cute include Emiliano Martínez, Giovani Lo Celso, Juan Musso, Exequiel Palacios, Gerónimo Rulli, Rodrigo De Paul, Agustín Giay, Nicolás Paz, Leandro Paredes, Franco Mastantuono, Cristian Romero, Matías Soulé, Lisandro Martínez, Giuliano Simeone, Juan Foyth, Nicolás González, Facundo Medina, Gianluca Prestianni, Nicolás Tagliafico, José Manuel López, Román Vega, Santiago Castro, Enzo Fernández, Julián Álvarez, Alexis Mac Allister, Lautaro Martínez, Valentín Barco, and Lionel Messi.
While Messi will not play for the national team after October 6th, Lautaro, Álvarez, Lisandro, and Fernández are expected to be the backbone of the team going forward. At the same time, the pressure is on the super-talented Nicolás Paz and Franco Mastantuono to deliver some of the magic that is leaving with Messi. Also, while they most likely won’t play- Germán Pezzella, Ángel Di María and Guido Rodríguez are expected to attend, unlike Roma’s Paulo Dybala and Nahuel Molina.
A Shirt For The Occasion of Lionel Messi International Retirement
You can bet the football world’s eyes will be on the GOAT’s farewell. The last chapter in his international career will be written on October 6th, and it is only fair to have Messi dressed up for the occasion. Adidas will commemorate the greatest ever with a one-off shirt tailored specially for this occasion. Messi’s contribution to the game has been immense, and his run with the national team from 2021-2024 was one of the best ever, despite the eventual loss in 2026 to Spain on the biggest stage. The kit was teased by Messi himself, who shared a post with a caption that states: “One last match. A jersey for a lifetime.”
This shirt is more than a classic Argentine sky blue and white striped jersey. Inspired by the nation’s flag, it features regal gold detailing and a few distinctive commemorative touches. Both the front and the back feature the sign of the famous Argentine Sun of May. On the chest, next to the Adidas sigil, you will also find one M dedicated to the legend himself. The No. 10 and his name are surrounded by gold markings, pairing the shirt with his white-and-gold custom boots. A glorious outfit to say the least.
El Monumental-The Fitting Ground for Messi’s Farewell Match
Interestingly, Lionel Messi didn’t leave a mark on domestic football in Argentina. His career spanned over two decades, but he made a name for himself at Barcelona, with later stints at PSG and now with Inter Miami. That’s why his farewell to the national team isn’t tied to his birthplace, Rosario, but to the biggest stadium in South America where the Argentine national team plays, and home to one of Argentina’s two biggest clubs, River Plate. Messi will take his final bow for La Albiceleste at El Monumental in front of a crowd of 85,000.
Those who bought tickets can consider themselves lucky, as all tickets sold out just two hours after being officially released. Buenos Aires will say goodbye to Argentina’s biggest football son, and the people who bought tickets made no effort or spent money to get their cards to the biggest game of the year in Argentina. Tickets ranged from $59 to $317, and all 85,018 allocated seats sold out in under two hours. Even Google Trends showed that searches for Argentina vs. Benin trended in South America for more than a week.
Why Benin?
This is a question that has been asked a lot. Throughout his career, Messi has developed more than a couple of rivalries, and Argentina has some fierce rivals to boast. Yet, the final game in Messi’s international career will be against Benin. Why? Well, it is not Messi’s retirement match. The match against Benin is a friendly that was already scheduled, and Messi was called by the AFA and Lionel Scaloni to make one last appearance for the national team, in front of the home crowd, before he walks into the sunset forever.
As a duel played on home soil, at the nation’s biggest stadium, it presented an ideal opportunity to pay due respect to the nation’s greatest-ever player. Despite that, the game is not without meaning. For Benin’s manager, Gernot Rohr, it provides a unique opportunity. This head coach was in charge of Nigeria at the World Cup in 2018, when his team lost to Argentina 2:1. Since then, he has been preserving one of Messi’s shirts, and at the Monumental he will finally have an opportunity to ask Lionel to sign it, as the Argentine player failed to do so in Russia.
Legacy Will Live On Long After Lionel Messi Last Match
Argentina is a nation whose people live football. It was hard to believe that there would come a time when Diego Maradona would no longer be the nation’s best football player. Yet, Messi surpassed him on every imaginable level. The Rosario-born player will wrap up his international career with 208 games for the national team (including the Benin game). So far, he has scored 125 goals and made 68 assists. He is the nation’s most-capped player and the best goalscorer. The only player to score more at the international level than him is Cristiano Ronaldo. The most impressive part of Lionel’s international career is the fact that he has 34 World Cup appearances with 21 goals and 12 assists. It will be hard to top that, and if you’re an Argentinean, being part of a nation that gave the world both Maradona and Messi should make you proud.
