Messi retires from international football: ‘Eternal’ star praised by peers

The football world has paid homage to Argentina’s “eternal” superstar Lionel Messi following his decision to retire from the national team aged 39.

Argentina’s record appearance maker and scorer, with 125 goals in 207 games, said on Monday the decision to end his international career “still hurts deep down” but that “the time has come.”

After the death of his father, Jorge, last month, Messi had said he had “ serious doubts ” about continuing to play football of any sort for “much longer”.

Angel Di Maria, who played alongside Messi in their FIFA 2022 World Cup triumph in Qatar , said it was “so hard” to know fans will not be able to see the talismanic forward in the sky blue and white colours of Argentina any more.

“I only know that I was born in the right century to be able to see you, enjoy you, and on top of that, to share all these years with you on the national team,” added Di Maria.

Rodrigo De Paul, Messi’s Argentinian teammate at his Major League Soccer club Inter Miami, applauded the record eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s “unconditional love” for the country.

“Just thank you, the greatest of all time, thank you for making us so, so happy, you can’t imagine how many smiles you brought!!” he added.

Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez said it would be hard to imagine the next training camp without Messi, who also led them to this year’s World Cup final in North America.