Mr. Claudio Tapia, president of the Argentine Football Federation, confirmed that Tango football will pay tribute to Lionel Messi in an unprecedented way in history if one day the 36-year-old superstar retires from the national team.
Messi’s shirt number 10 will forever no longer appear on the Argentina national team after he leaves the team
The plan proposed by Mr. Tapia is to permanently hang up the number 10 shirt that belongs to Messi and Maradona. “Once Messi retires from the national team, we will not allow anyone else to wear his number 10 shirt anymore. This number 10 will be worn for life in his honor. That is the least we can do. I can do it for him,” President Tapia told Argentine media.
This action shows that the impression that Messi has on Tango football is extremely huge. He is the leader who brought the team to two Copa America 2021 championships and especially the 2022 World Cup, a title considered to “save the whole country of Argentina.”.
At the youth team level, he won the 2005 FIFA U20 World Cup with Argentina U20 and won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics with Argentina.
Messi has long been a “living saint” in Tango. It is understandable that AFA pays tribute to him in a special way. Thus, Messi will be the last person to wear the number 10 shirt for Argentina.
In fact, during Messi’s reign, there was still one player given the number 10 shirt. That was Sergio Aguero. He wore shirt number 10 during the period when Messi retired from the national team after the defeat at Copa America 2016. But after the superstar born in 1987 returned, Aguero gave his shirt to his teammates.
Previously, the AFA also honored Messi by changing the name of the national training center to “Lionel Andres Messi.”.
It all shows that in his final years with the national team, Messi is receiving all the great gratitude that the entire football industry has for him. His almost-final mission in Argentina is to defend the 2024 Copa America championship. But he still leaves open the possibility of attending the 2026 World Cup.
