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What is left for Lionel Messi to win? The Argentine icon is already the most decorated footballer in history, with 48 major trophies for club and country. He conquered Europe with Barcelona and, over the past five years, finally erased the long-standing disappointment of failing to win with Argentina by lifting two Copa América titles, the FIFA World Cup and the Finalissima.
Yet football has a strange way of bringing the past back to life. The MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, where Messi once endured one of the darkest nights of his career, became the scene of another emotional moment as tears once again filled his eyes.
The story dates back to June 26, 2016, when Argentina lost the Copa América Centenario final to Chile on penalties. Messi missed his spot-kick, and despite carrying Argentina for years, much of the blame fell on his shoulders.
After successive final defeats at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, the 2015 Copa América, and then the 2016 Copa América, criticism at home reached painful levels, with some even questioning his commitment to the national team.
Heartbroken, Messi announced after the match that he was retiring from international football.
“I’ve done everything I could to win a title for Argentina. Maybe it’s just not meant to be,” he said at the time.
Fortunately for Argentina, that retirement lasted only a few months.
Messi returned, and what followed became one of football’s greatest redemption stories. Argentina ended its long trophy drought by winning the 2021 Copa América, followed by the 2022 FIFA World Cup, another Copa América, and the Finalissima.
For Messi, MetLife has never been just another stadium. It holds both his deepest heartbreak and some of his finest memories. In 2012, he scored a brilliant hat-trick there as Argentina defeated Brazil 4-3 in a memorable friendly. Across five appearances at the venue, he has scored four goals, underlining his special connection with the stadium.
But it was at MetLife that he suffered another painful defeat, reopening memories of the heartbreak that once pushed him to walk away from international football.
Now 39, Messi no longer possesses the relentless physical energy of his younger days. Yet his desire to lead Argentina to glory remains as strong as ever.
MetLife made him cry once before, and it did so again. But no single defeat can diminish the legacy he has built. Whether in victory or defeat, Lionel Messi’s place among football’s all-time greats remains unquestioned.
