Lionel Messi’s international football career might have ended but the memories, difficulties and achievements which have characterized his career in Argentina will stick in the history books forever. The Argentine national football team’s great forward Antonela Roccuzzo paid tribute to Messi after the disappointment of retirement from the game.
Antonela’s Argentina career was about more than just goals and trophies and records (that Messi won). It was also about seeing the pressure he had to carry and how he persevered and how he had to fight for the dream even when it was so hard to reach. In her personal message she recalls Messi struggling, falling and rising again to achieve many of the dreams he had throughout his career.
Messi came to Argentina when he was still a teenager. He was called up to Argentina’s senior side for the first time at the age of 18 by José Néstor Pekerman and has become one of the most influential players in the country’s football history. Messi made 207 international appearances for Argentina and scored 125 goals, and is the all-time leading scorer in Argentina.
But there were many painful defeats and many of the same things Messi went through with the national team that he had to do with celebrating. Messi had a long time of speculation on him and for many years the fans and people who followed him knew the big picture.
They were the tough times and Messi’s eventual success was so much more significant. Messi did help Argentina to win the Copa América and then he reached the top of international football when he won the FIFA World Cup. His victory in Qatar turned what had once seemed like a source of great pressure into one of his greatest achievements.
Antonela documented that journey in her emotional Instagram message. She said she was proud Messi closed this chapter of his career after everything he had gone through with Argentina. She described the years, the moments, the hard times and the good times that he had to go through.
Antonela wrote: “I saw you suffer, fall and get back up,” emphasizing Messi’s ability to continue fighting even when circumstances did not go his way. She thought of how he always tried again and got those goals in the end just because he was so driven.
Antonela’s message was particularly touching in that it was about their children. She said that their kids had watched Messi’s career from quite close quarters. They saw their father deal with disappointment, make sacrifices and continue believing in his dreams.
Antonela’s children were able to see Messi finally achieve his biggest football dream while on their trip—and they were able to see him lift the World Cup, a victory that was at the end of years of struggle and emotional battles.
The message also showed how Messi is viewed in his family. While millions of fans know him as one of the greatest footballers of all time, his children view him largely as their father. Antonela said they may only come to appreciate the scale of what he did as an individual when they are older.
And for now they are proud of their dad. Antonela also made it clear that her admiration extends beyond Messi’s sporting accomplishments. She said she was proud of the person he was throughout his life and what he did and did not overcome along the way.
Messi’s international retirement is more than just the end of a great statistical record. It ends a story that was heartbreak, criticism, perseverance and, ultimately, some of the greatest triumphs in Argentina’s football history.
Antonela’s tribute is to Messi’s human side, though supporters of all teams will recall his goals and assists and trophies and historic performances. But behind the world’s greatest football player was a man who never gave up on anything, who believed, who finally did what he wanted for years.
Messi is away from international football, so his legacy is secured with Argentina. His stats put him among the country’s greatest players, and his World Cup gold medal, and his history in football. But for Antonela and her children it may simply be the example he set by refusing to give up.
Her emotional farewell encapsulated that view well: beyond all those records and medals is a life of resilience, sacrifice and perseverance that his family went through during his time.
