🩵🤍 Full statement by Lionel Messi: “I wrote these words on July 21, two days after the final… today, after what happened with my dad, I’m even more convinced of this decision than before”.
“After all this time since the final, and after thinking about it a lot, I want to tell everyone that I’m retiring from the national team.
"It was a decision that hurt and still hurts deep inside, but I understand that this is the right moment.
"I swear I always gave everything, not only in these last few years when we won everything, but before that too. I always fought and gave everything for this shirt, to bring you happiness and make you feel proud to be Argentine through football.
"There isn’t much time left, and different chapters are coming to an end. This is one that hurts me a lot. I love, I loved, and I will always love being part of the national team. I gave everything I had, and I don’t have anything more to give.
"Also, there are great young players coming through who deserve to be here.
"Thank you for all the love during these 20 years. I’m going to miss hearing you from the inside. Now I’ll be one of you, always supporting from the outside, in the good times and even more in the bad ones.
"Thank you to my family for always being there and for being with me throughout this beautiful but difficult journey. Thank you to every coach, teammate and director I had the chance to share it with. I take with me unforgettable memories and moments.
"I leave with peace and pride, knowing that together with my teammates we gave you moments we once dreamed of. It was crazy to experience all of this with you. I love you!
"Thank you God for making me Argentine.
"Vamos Argentina!
The whole world is talking about the gesture Olmo made the other day when he came on as a substitute alongside Rodri.
In this moment, Olmo and Rodri were standing on the touchline, waiting to come onto the pitch. In less than a second, Olmo decided to take two steps back, leaving room for Rodri to walk out first and receive the full applause from the crowd on his own during his first appearance at Camp Nou.
Yesterday, Olmo was the first to welcome Livaković after being the main reason behind Barcelona’s decision to sign him. And on that same day, he made this beautiful gesture for Rodri.
Olmo is such a respectful person who genuinely thinks about the people around him. ❤️
I created an AI Smart Glass to help blind people walk without a cane or a guide 👓
But this is not like the smart glasses people are used to seeing
Because this Glass combines AI, sensors, and GPS to help the user detect things in front of them, avoid obstacles, and know their location
But the most amazing thing is if the user gets lost, the GPS tracking system can help locate where they are from anywhere, and then send the location to the phone of the person taking care of them via WhatsApp or Email 📲
And now I am further developing it to a new level of AI + Voice, so it can speak with the user and also help them understand their surroundings
I have put the video showing how it works completely in the comment. 🎥
SHARE this project 🤝🔥
Let the world see what a young Nigerian can build
“Many People” started with Adewale Ayuba, Yinka Ayefele carried it to another generation, and somehow I get to carry it even further.
Now all three of us are on eFootball 2027.
I’m proud of that one.
Eja Nla no be small fish.
🦈
Very unbiased comparison of Messi and Ronaldo
Goal scoring : Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Goal ratio: Messi 🇦🇷
Assists: Messi 🇦🇷
Assists per 90: Messi 🇦🇷
G/A: Messi 🇦🇷
Aerial ability: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Passing: Messi 🇦🇷
Chance creation: Messi 🇦🇷
Pace: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Physicality: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Ball retention: Messi 🇦🇷
Tempo control: Messi 🇦🇷
Weak foot: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Penalties: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Non Penalty goals: Messi 🇦🇷
Longevity: Messi 🇦🇷
Consistency: Messi 🇦🇷
Prime: Messi 🇦🇷
World Cup: Messi 🇦🇷
World Cup goals: Messi 🇦🇷
World Cup assists: Messi 🇦🇷
Champions league: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Champions league goals: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Champions league assists: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
MOTM awards: Messi 🇦🇷
Team Trophies: Messi 🇦🇷
Trophy Variety: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Individual Awards: Messi 🇦🇷
Defensive work rate : Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Attacking work rate: Messi 🇦🇷
Vision: Messi 🇦🇷
Ball progression: Messi 🇦🇷
Positioning: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Playmaking: Messi 🇦🇷
Freekicks: Messi 🇦🇷
Dribbling: Messi 🇦🇷
Hattricks: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Outside the box goals: Messi 🇦🇷 ( more goals )
Clutch factor: on par tbh 🇦🇷🇵🇹
Final third presence: Messi 🇦🇷
Take ons: Messi 🇦🇷
Shot power: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Goal involvement: Messi 🇦🇷
Stamina: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Goals in finals: Messi 🇦🇷
Finals won: Messi 🇦🇷
Fanbase: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Fame: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Leadership: Messi 🇦🇷
Celebration: Ronaldo 🇵🇹
Overall better footballer: Messi 🇦🇷
When I say Lionel Messi is the greatest player to ever play football, I am not saying it with reference to goals, assists or trophies won, or whatever can be counted, or in comparison to one single player. I am saying it in terms of football ability in comparison to EVERY footballer.
Nobody can play football better than Lionel Messi‼️
What happened at this World Cup, and why Lionel Messi and Argentina suddenly started receiving hate, was simple.
Ronaldo and his fans didn’t expect a 39-year-old Lionel Messi to still turn up at this World Cup. They were genuinely shocked when Messi started scoring goals and providing assists in clutch moments to win games for Argentina. This made the world see the light about Lionel Messi. Messi was getting his deserved accolades, and even some Ronaldo fans started coming out to admit that Messi is the GOAT, even if Ronaldo is their personal GOAT.
During this period, the hate campaigns hadn’t started because, if they had, Ronaldo fans wouldn’t have been publicly declaring Messi as the GOAT. There were still a few “rigged” allegations here and there from the Argentina vs Algeria foul incident, but that was just normal fan match reaction. Nothing extreme. Even though Croatia had a clear goal controversially disallowed, we didn’t see the same reaction from viewers as you would expect if Portugal were Argentina.
Ronaldo scored two goals against Uzbekistan and said, “I’m back.” Those are the comments of someone who’s under pressure to prove a point, someone who’s trying to show that he’s still got it. This came after Messi had scored a hat-trick against Algeria and two goals against Austria, earning 9.3 and 9.6 ratings respectively. After two matches, Messi was already on five goals, while Ronaldo had a 6.3 rating against DR Congo and got the banter of his life. Meanwhile, Messi was being celebrated all over the world. Everyone was in awe of what he was doing at the age of 39. It was as if he was erasing the debate and putting a permanent end to it.
Bingo! That’s when the unexpected happened.
We started seeing American pages that had never talked about football before saying Argentina were rigging games, with zero context. The shocking part wasn’t even that these pages were posting it it was the magnitude at which they were receiving traction. You could tell there was a heavily sponsored campaign going on.
What did Messi do wrong?
He played football better than Ronaldo.
The moment Ronaldo got knocked out by Spain, it tripled. To the point that Messi, who always received praise after his masterclasses, no longer did. Instead, the hate propaganda overshadowed the beautiful football he played.
Messi may not have won his second World Cup, but he’ll retire knowing that, on the biggest stage, in their last World Cup, he was the one who proved why he’s the greatest, while the other guy went out disgracefully, proving why he isn’t.
I’m going to take my time with this one. If you’re busy, save this post and read it later. Don’t miss this trust me.
I just want to put one final point on Messi’s story: football has never truly been an individual sport—except when it came to him.
Football is a team game. No matter how great you are, you still need the players around you to compete, even if the entire system is built to maximize your strengths.
Yet even with Messi, people kept repeating the same old narrative about Xavi, Iniesta, and Guardiola. The reality is that Messi only spent about four years playing with that historic generation, and even that team looked lost before Guardiola arrived. Messi contributed just as much to their greatness as they did to his.
When that generation left, Barcelona became almost entirely dependent on Messi for two years. Then Luis Enrique arrived, along with Suárez and Neymar, not to carry Messi, but to help share the burden.
After Neymar left, and with Suárez well past his best, Messi was once again carrying Barcelona almost entirely by himself, surrounded by average players. He was one game away from another historic treble, and once again, he was the team’s standout player.
Many people forget that in 2014, after Messi became La Liga’s all-time leading scorer with a hat-trick against Sevilla, Barcelona fans were handed flyers asking: ��What if you woke up tomorrow and Messi was no longer at Barcelona?” Even then, some people still couldn’t bring themselves to give him the credit he deserved.
Messi even wanted to leave in 2020, and the situation nearly ended up in court. But he stayed because he didn’t want to fight the club he loved. In the end, he was still forced out in one of the saddest exits in football history.
Argentina was no different.
For years, Messi carried one of the worst-run national teams in modern football. In 2010, Maradona played Germany with four attackers because he believed more forwards meant more goals. Argentina lost 4–0.
Yet Messi was the one blamed.
He was called a failure, a choker, and a coward by people who ignored the reality that, without him, Argentina might not even have qualified for the 2014 World Cup. Every Copa América final they reached was because Messi got them there in the first place.
The difference was enormous: with Messi, Argentina reached finals; without him, they struggled even against much weaker opponents.
The 2022 World Cup wasn���t just about a great team—it was also about Messi bringing confidence, leadership, and belief to a group of players who followed him. He carried the responsibility while everyone else played their role.
Even in the latest World Cup, at 39 years old, Messi was covering huge areas of the pitch, playing 120 minutes repeatedly, and constantly finding new ways to win games almost by himself.
Most people will never care about these details or this context. Future generations will only look at trophies and short tournaments.
In the end, every argument people used against Messi eventually disappeared. They said he had no World Cup—he won it. They said he had no Copa América—he won it too.
To me, Messi is the most unfairly judged player in football history. No player has been blamed for more things beyond his control or had more false narratives attached to his name.
That’s Messi’s story—through logic, reality, and everything he had to endure.
The fact that when they played with Messi, he was the best player in the world, and now that they are no longer playing, Messi is still arguably the best player in the world.
Lionel Messi is the greatest player to ever play football. 💯‼️
Messi was 19 when he made his debut in the world cup.
His Jersey no was 19.
He met Yamal 19 years ago.
Yamal's 19th birthday was few days ago.
He wears jersey no 19.
Messi & Yamal's birthday are 19 days apart.
The world cup final is on July 19th.
What a coincidence.
End.