Messi farewell closes a long, hard-won love story with Argentina

Lionel Messi's farewell to Argentina will mark the end of a remarkable relationship that spanned over two decades. The journey began when the Argentine football authorities were unaware of his name, and evolved into one of the most enduring connections in sports history. His international career concluded on Tuesday with a match against Benin at Buenos Aires’ Monumental stadium.

The relationship began when Messi, a teenage prodigy, moved to Barcelona at the age of 13. At the time, Argentina struggled to identify him as a national asset. As Sergio Levinsky, a journalist who wrote "Messi and Everything Else", explained to Reuters, Messi endured significant hardships with the national team. In fact, Spain's Cesc Fabregas, who scored twice in the 2003 Under-17 World Cup semi-finals against Argentina, remarked that they had lost to Messi's Barcelona teammate because he was a genius.

Finding Messi proved challenging for the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Omar Souto, an AFA employee, tracked down the Messi family in Spain through a Rosario telephone directory, but mistakenly asked for "Leonardo" instead of "Lionel". The confusion even extended to the paperwork, with the AFA sending Barcelona a fax requesting information about a player named "Mecci". The spelling error suggested officials believed Messi might be Italian.