5 reasons why Lionel Messi should retire from international football

So, it is over. Lionel Messi has bowed out of yet another World Cup without being able to lift the trophy by the end of it. To be fair, however, Argentina didn’t have the team to go that far and achieve that much.

On top of that, Jorge Sampaoli’s weird selection policy meant that Argentina couldn’t use their most talented players when it was necessary. Everything, in the end, played against the runners-up of last World Cup.

From the very beginning, Argentina were a disaster waiting to happen. Their qualification campaign was terrible and they almost missed out on the World Cup… but then Leo Messi stepped in and ensured that his team played in the main competition.

After that, the first match against Iceland was a sign of things to come as Argentina’s attack was shut down by the Icelanders. Against Croatia in the second game, they were completely schooled by Modric and co.

And then in the final match of the group stage, they looked like a team without cohesion that somehow managed to reach the second round – thanks to a goal from Messi and Rojo each.

Many felt that an inspired Argentina could have stopped the juggernaut that France is, but it wasn’t to be as a 19-year-old Mbappe ruined the party of the Albiceleste. And now, it is perhaps time for Messi to consider his future with the national team – and here are 5 reasons why he could contemplate retirement.

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#5 Prolonging Barcelona career

This is a purely individual reason and let me assure you that it is the only point in this slider that is solely about Messi and not Argentina. Everything that Lionel Messi has today, he not only owes it to his brilliance but also a bit to Barcelona.

This is a club that showed immense faith in him despite the fact that he had just hit his teens. Since the age of 13, he has been plying his trade for the Catalans and has achieved everything there is to achieve at club level.

However, the hunger still persists and he could win a lot more with Barcelona as the years go by. If he cuts short his international career now, he can prolong his time with Barca by at least a couple of years – and he could consider doing that for a club that gave him the platform to reach greatness.

#4 Time to move on

Maybe it is time to move on

Some things are just not meant to be. Despite being the greatest player of his generation, Alfredo di Stefano never got to play in a World Cup due to misfortunes and injuries.

And yet, di Stefano’s legacy as one of the greatest players of all time remains intact. It just goes to show that failure with the national team doesn’t define a player’s greatness as football is a team game and can’t be won by a single player’s antics.

Messi never had a squad with him at Argentina and he perhaps never will. So it is time to accept it and move on because playing for Argentina and living with the burden of continuous failure will only just add more to his ever-growing regret.

#3 Let others take over

Dybala and co. have the talent

There is a conception that after the departure of Leo Messi from Argentina, the team will crumble – and evidence has shown just that. Argentina were on the brink of losing out of the World Cup when Messi announced his retirement in 2017 and La Pulga had to come back again to take them to Russia.

When Messi retires, Argentina will be dismantled. They might as well miss out of playing in a World Cup – or they might just resurge like a phoenix.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is arguably the greatest Swedish player of all time and yet, he could never inspire his nation to do anything worthwhile in major tournaments. After his retirement from Sweden, the Swedes not only qualified for the World Cup this year – they missed out with Ibrahimovic in 2014 – but ended up as group champions to progress for the second round.

It happened because the others took over. Similar could happen with Argentina as Messi’s retirement could help…

#2 Removing Messi-dependency

Everything on his shoulders

Even a great team like Barcelona sometimes find themselves relying on Messi to bail them out of some matches. This actually increased a lot after the departure of Xavi and the decline of Iniesta.

When a player like Messi – who is head and shoulders above the rest – plays for your team, it is only natural for you to depend on him. The calibre that he oozes on the pitch often makes his team-mate take him for granted and not give their best.

This feels like a concurrent theme with Argentina as apart from a selected few, it feels as though no-one gives their 100% because they have this “Messi is here to save us” sort of temperament.

While this is not Messi’s fault – he is just too damn good – this is something that should not be there in any team as a unit that relies on one person is bound to fail more often than not.

#1 A team shall be built

A team could be built

With the departure of Messi, the dependency on him will cease to exist. The system – which is so often tampered with in order to ‘suit Messi’ – will change and Argentina might finally start to play as a team instead of Messi-plus-ten.

Sampaoli’s constant talk about the rest of the players failing to support Messi shows that his main target was to build a team for Messi and not for actually building a team. The conception that building a team for Messi – or anyone for that matter – will gift you titles is absurd and should go away once the great man retires.

There will always be a scope for regret to not see Messi lift the title for Argentina – oh, the view of the number 10 lifting a major trophy for his country… surreal – but the truth is that once Argentina start building a team instead of a support staff to assist a single player, they might actually start winning.

Because the truth is, even the support staff ends up failing to assist the said player – which is Messi in this case – and causes heartbreaks for everyone involved.

Long live, King Messi. You tried all you could but some things are just not meant to be.