🚨 OFFICIAL: Lionel Messi becomes the first and only player in the South America history to register a goal and two assists on his farewell game.
THIS MAN IS NOT 39.
🚨🚨 Messi 🗣️:"It's a great honor to be able to say that I am an honorary doctor. It's a very special day for me. I know it's going to be difficult, I'm going to try to enjoy it. I'm calm, but as the match approaches, it's getting a little more complicated."
Siento que es el momento.
El momento para dar un paso adelante y comenzar una nueva etapa en mi vida.
Me voy orgulloso por haber vivido mi sueño y por todas las personas que estuvieron a mi lado para hacerlo realidad.
Gracias fútbol por hacerme tan feliz. ❤️⚽️
Teachable moment for every footballer who doesn’t hustle, who doesn’t run. This is the greatest footballer in history in his retirement match, 39 years old, showing the world that you give everything on the pitch no matter what.
Rodrigo De Paul farewell’s message to Leo Messi:
“I don’t know why, but in our first training session, we somehow found ourselves running together, just the two of us. I had to act like a normal teammate, so to speak.
Because at the end of the day, we were wearing the same shirt, but inside me there were so many emotions.
As the days went by, I think my personality always pushed me to get closer and break down those barriers.
I don’t know if I would do the same thing today if I were older, but I went and knocked on his door and spoke to him. We started sharing things together, mate, games of truco.
That’s when we started getting past that barrier of admiration. It stopped being simply admiration for an idol, and something much bigger began to form.
He made me grow not only as a footballer, but also as a person. I became a better person, a better human being, a better athlete, a better father, and a better friend.
I can see in my children’s eyes the pride that their father is a world champion. And I see it in my mother’s eyes when she talks about everything I’ve achieved. I have absolutely no doubt that none of it would have been possible without him.
In some way, I feel that every Argentine began to feel that they have a special connection with Messi. The rest of the world still sees him for what he is, that machine that never stops, the greatest player in history.
But anyone born in Argentina sees something else. Something that makes the connection feel like, ‘Leo and me. I know him. I know who he is.’ And that makes me very happy.
I want to tell him that I love him. He knows that, to me, he is my brother and that he has an enormous heart. The day of the match is going to hurt us a lot, and with all my heart, I hope he goes home carrying with him one of the greatest days of his life.
He has brought us together once again around one shared goal. And I hope we can show the world that he is the person we love more than anyone else.”
🚨 | RECORD: Argentina vs Benin becomes the most Watched Event in Human HISTORY with 3.1 Billion views recorded at the 10th minute of the game. 🤯🌎
The game has surpassed the World Cup final 2022 with 3 Billion live views. 📈✅
🚨🎙️ LEO MESSI FULL SPEECH:
"I have nothing left to do but thank this shirt. For 20 years, even through the worst moments, I never stopped fighting, pushing forward, giving everything I had and wanting to be here.
"Not coming here anymore and no longer being with the Argentina National Team is going to hurt a lot. If it were up to me, I would love to be here for my entire life, because playing for Argentina is the most beautiful thing there is.
"I think I’m talking more than ever today because I simply don’t want this moment to end.
"But I think the time has come for me to retire. The last World Cup took a lot out of us after everything we went through. We arrived in the final with just enough left in us, but we fought until the very end, like we always did.
"We came very close to winning it again, and despite everything that was said about us, nothing strange happened. The match against England took a lot out of us because we gave absolutely everything.
"In 2022, we had the dream of fulfilling not only my dream, but the dream of an entire country: becoming world champions again. And we did it.
"We won the World Cup, the Copa América, the Finalissima… I’m incredibly grateful for everything I experienced with this National Team.
"But this journey wasn’t only about 2022 or this last World Cup. So many teammates fought alongside me for this shirt long before we finally became world champions. Never doubt how much every one of them fought and gave for Argentina.
"It was a privilege and an honor to share the pitch with all of my teammates and to share so much of our lives together away from football. Every time we stepped onto the pitch, I knew we could compete against anyone because I had warriors beside me who were willing to leave absolutely everything out there.
"To achieve the biggest things, you need a strong group. And it’s during the most difficult moments that you truly discover what kind of team you have. That’s one of the biggest reasons we were able to achieve everything we did.
"And especially to this group: THANK YOU. They helped me fulfill the dream I had since I was a child. They helped me become a world champion.
"I also want to thank the people. I was lucky enough to play in so many cities across Argentina, and everywhere I went, I received an incredible amount of love.
"Throughout all these years, wherever we played in the world, the stadiums were always full of Argentinians. No matter the match or the distance, people made an enormous effort to be there. We know how difficult that is. Wherever we went in the world, it felt like we were playing at home because we could always feel your support.
"And that support has to continue. Difficult moments will come, and those are the moments when you have to support the team more than ever. You need strong, united groups because there will always be people who want to see the National Team fail, and we can’t give them that satisfaction.
"Here, in this stadium, I experienced one of the happiest days of my life: our first match at home after becoming world champions. It was beautiful. And today might be one of the saddest because I’m standing here saying goodbye.
"I’m going to miss all of you so much, but I’ll always be on your side. I’ll be supporting these boys and everyone who comes after them.
"There are so many emotions going through me right now. I’m surely forgetting many things I would like to say because this is a very difficult moment for me. The first person who comes to my mind is my dad.
"I’m going to miss playing here so much. I love you all, and I’m proud to be Argentine.
"I leave grateful, proud and at peace. Thank you for everything.” 🇦🇷❤️
If given the chance, we're going to disrupt the sector where people normally come and collect our mineral resources, take it out without processing it here. That is our target.
- Aliko Dangote