Key events 40 Min: Benin do their best to create some danger but have had few opportunities, all generated on the counterattack. Still, it seems almost incredible that Argentina found no joy against such an outmatched opponent. The longer it remains 0-0, the longer the unthinkable will remain a possibility! Share32 Min: Messi gets another chance when Argentine striker Lautaro Martínez plays a cross aimed at Messi, who sends his volley wide of the far post. He’s certainly not a babysitter by any standards, but he would have put money on Messi to make at least one of his three big chances so far. the Copa América 2016. However, different result. Share24 Min: Messi laughs after missing a golden opportunity. Messi’s teammate at Inter Miami, Rodrigo De Paul, found him at the edge of the six with a driven cross. Messi, fully extended, redirected the center just wide of the near post. It feels like it’s just a matter of time before the inevitable. Share19 Min: Benin midfielder Junior Olaitan gives the Cheetahs their first real chance of the game, running towards the byline and launching his shot from 8 yards wide of the goal; Argentine goalkeeper Emi Martínez (who, by the way, has a Messi tribute shaved into his hair tonight) seemed to have it covered anyway. Still, an impressive fight from a vastly outmatched opponent. Share14 Min: Messi receives the ball 25 meters from the goal above the semicircle and deftly passes to Nicolás Otamendi with a one-touch serve. Otamendi, however, is offside. As expected, Argentina has most of the action so far. Share 10 minutes: The game stops at minute 10 for a one-minute ovation. More fireworks, more tears as Messi greets the crowd, who serenade him: “Olé, Olé Olé Olé, Messi, Messi.” I’m not sure what Ifab or FIFA have to say about this, but honestly, who cares at this point? Share Updated at 00.59 BST Guardian reader Simon shares a personal memory of Messi. Can you imagine? Simon, are you sure this wasn’t a fever dream? I was lucky enough to meet Leo Messi several times at the hotel where I work. An incredibly unassuming guy, we stood and watched our kids play 3-on-3 for about an hour. In the end he told my son “you are very fast” and I will take that to the grave. Share 7 min: Messi sees his first real action of the match, rounding his defender and allowing a left-footed shot from about 25 yards out, handled with relative ease by the Benin goalkeeper. Share Updated at 00.44 BST 31 minutes late, but we’re underway at the Monumental Stadium! Share Another reader email, this one from Dion in Australia, who legitimately invited me to her wedding (thank you very much, but I don’t have that budgeted for) and then offered her input; Honestly, it’s been incredible to see the comparison/contrast between Messi and Ronaldo’s experiences in this window: It’s devastating to see Messi go. Although I once saw them as equals, Ronaldo has disgraced himself this month with his Keane-esque strike in the nations league. To be a champion you have to age gracefully, which Messi has done. Having such a great career in this era is an even greater achievement than in the past. The level of defense that Maradona or Pelé faced was desperate in comparison. ShareMessi is not the only one crying now, as Argentine boss Lionel Scaloni cries during the Argentine anthem. Guardian reader Julia feels it too and offers us this tribute: I’m 29 years old and I’ve watched the World Cup for as long as I can remember, but 2006 is the first one that’s really clear to me. My family is an Argentina fan (to put it mildly), and my dad believed in Messi from the beginning. I hate being that person, but I’ve literally been a Leo fan for over two-thirds of my life, and he’s helped me grow, lose a parent, graduate law school, and everything in between. Today feels monumental, and I’m pretty devastated and parasocially excited that he’s getting all the love he deserves. ShareKickoff was delayed from 7 to 7:!5 and we still have no teams on the field. We’ll see how long this lasts: the pitch, from now on, is covered by a huge Messi jersey, and the stadium is loudly singing “Muchachos”, Argentina’s iconic battle call of late. Share By the way, if any of you have any comments, questions, praise, criticism or memories of Messi wearing the Argentina shirt, feel free to use the link at the top of this page to email me and we’ll navigate through them together. It’s a lonely place here in the basement. Share There was a lot of talk on the Vix broadcast about ticket prices, which has been a central point of discussion in Argentina leading up to this match, with some accusing the Argentine Football Association of adjusting prices. “I’m sorry for those of you who couldn’t be here,” says the court commentator, in Spanish, “perhaps due to decisions made by people far from the court. The prices for this match were certainly not for ‘the people.'” I can only hope that Guardian reader “snafuclarke” has fully recovered from such a terrible, searing take: Don’t kid yourself. Currently Messi is tremendously overrated. The amount of hype this guy gets has never matched his performances on the field in the last game. The fact is that it is too often peripheral to the game and rarely has any effect on the outcome. one game in which he achieves a hat-trick doesn’t make him the superstar some are desperate to hail him as. If he continues to put up that kind of performance over the course of a few years, he’ll be right up there, but anyone who says, “oh, he’s a great player, even now” either has nothing to compare him to or simply doesn’t have much knowledge of football. Potential is one thing, performance is what counts and so far one game out of the first team’s 40 games, perhaps, is not a very good record. Today we added “tears on the bus ride to the stadium” and “tears during warmups” to the files. A moment of gratitude, please, for the athletes who are so openly excited. It’s lovely to see. Allow content provided by a third party? This article includes content hosted on embed.bsky.app. We ask for your permission before uploading anything as the provider may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click ‘Allow and continue’. Share Updated at 23:54 BSTabsolutely electric atmosphere at the Monumental Stadium, the stadium of the Argentine team River Plate and the largest stadium in the country: it is full to capacity long before kick-off. Argentina are almost unbeatable at the stadium and Messi himself has never lost a game at the stadium, having won 22 of the 28 games he played there for Argentina and drawn the other six, scoring. 19 goals along the way. Something tells Benin that he won’t break that streak tonight. ShareArgentina’s starting eleven is out and Messi, unsurprisingly, is in it, as are many of the players who helped guide Argentina to the 2026 World Cup final. Goalkeeper: Emiliano Martínez Defenders: Agustín Giay, Cristian Romero, Nicolás Otamendi, Nicolás Tagliafico Midfielders: Enzo Fernández, Alexis Mac Allister, Rodrigo De Paul Forwards: Julián Álvarez, Lautaro Martínez, Lionel Mess ShareMessi, like any other megastar, has his enemies and his believers. I can’t say I fall on either side, but it makes me a little sad to see the first scenes at the Monumental Stadium. I’ve covered him in person dozens of times at this point, both with Argentina at this summer’s World Cup and throughout his career at Inter Miami. I can’t say that it never goes out of style: its magic is very predictable at times but it never ceases to surprise. As I told a friend the other day, watching Messi is like watching a comedian tell the same joke over and over again, and you still laugh every time. Let’s see what he has in store for us tonight. Share I could fill all of this pre-match coverage with milestones and statistics from Messi’s illustrious career – his international career alone is a statistician’s dream, especially the last two World Cup cycles, which saw him solidify his status as an immortal. Our own Ryan Benson unravels the statistical absurdity of it all, arguing that Messi has “completed football” at this point. It’s hard to disagree: for now, though, it’s time for Argentina to celebrate what they’ve achieved under Messi because there’s no guarantee he’ll be as good as this again. Argentina had already won the lottery once before with Maradona; It will surely be a while before they strike gold for the third time. Fortunately, Messi gave them memories that will last a lifetime. More information in the link below. Share If you’re watching tonight’s game in the United States, you’re probably tuned into Vix, a Miami-based streaming service that operates in the US, South America and Spain. It’s probably unfair to call it an odd combination – the service regularly broadcasts matches from a host of competitions across North and South America – but still, you’d think the latest international appearance of the greatest footballer in the history of the world would find a wider audience elsewhere. SharePablo Iglesias Maurer Hello friends, here Pablo Iglesias Maurer, installed and ready for Lionel Messi’s swan song as Argentina hosts Benin, ranked 93rd in the ranking, at El Monumental for an international friendly. First things first: If you’re wondering why Argentina is playing a team like Benin, you probably haven’t paid much attention to the types of friendlies the Albiceleste typically schedules. It’s far from his first encounter with a bottom-rung opponent; The average FIFA global ranking of their friendly opponents in recent years is 85, at the moment, having faced other minnows such as Burkina Faso and Mauritania. This dynamic offers little competition, but offers the Argentine Football Association enormous control in terms of logistics and financial terms. Tonight, we may all see Messi score a dozen goals or more. Who knows. ShareMessi’s international career is divided into two distinct halves. There was a first decade in which there was the feeling that he didn’t quite fit in, that somehow he wasn’t Argentine enough and that he didn’t care about his country. That was always absurd and can now be recognized as a manifestation of the Argentine public’s frustration at their trophy drought despite the presence in their forward line of one of the three best to play the game. Messi then retired, distraught after missing a penalty in the shootout against Chile in the Copa América final in 2016. Suddenly, Argentina, instead of simply lashing out at its biggest star, was forced to confront what it would mean to live without him. The prospect was so dire that it sparked a massive campaign to encourage Messi to reverse his decision. He has been loved ever since and, despite a chaotic World Cup in 2018, has delivered two Copa Americas, a World Cup and another World Cup final. His career was marked by the accusation that he never equaled Diego Maradona’s achievements with the national shirt; he ended up winning more.Read more from Jonathan Wilson:SharePreambleHello and welcome to our live blog of a surely emotional occasion in Buenos Aires. Pablo will arrive soon.Share
