Two hundred and seven caps. A hundred and twenty-five goals. Lionel Messi has walked away from Argentina with both numbers as national records, announcing his international retirement on Monday at 39, 21 years after his debut.
That debut was brief and bad. He came on in a friendly against Hungary in August 2005 and was sent off for elbowing an opponent after barely a minute.
The numbers
He played in six World Cups, in 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026, a number shared with his long-time rival Cristiano Ronaldo. In those tournaments he scored 21 goals, second only to France’s Kylian Mbappe, who has 22 in three.
He won the trophy once, in Qatar in 2022. He also reached two other finals, losing to Germany in 2014 and to Spain in 2026.
His 125 international goals are more than double anyone else’s for Argentina. The previous record belonged to Gabriel Batistuta, who scored 54 in 78 appearances between 1991 and 2002. On the all-time men’s list Messi is second to Ronaldo, who has 146. The same goes for appearances: Ronaldo has played 233 games for Portugal.
