Miami (AFP) - Lionel Messi said on Monday he was retiring from international football after leading Argentina to a second successive World Cup final in July.

The 39-year-old forward who won the World Cup in 2022 and dragged his nation to the final in the United States only to lose to Spain, said the decision had been painful.

“It was a decision that hurt and still hurts deep in my soul but I understand that it is the right time,” Messi wrote on Instagram.

“I swear I always gave everything, not just in the last few years when we won everything but before that too, and I always fought and gave my all for this shirt,” he added.

Messi led Argentina to World Cup glory four years ago by winning the final against France in a penalty shootout in Doha, but his side lost 1-0 to a superior Spain side in the 2026 final in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

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

“I don’t know what I’ll do without you, I don’t know how to go on. I just played football, and now I have serious doubts about continuing to do so for much longer,” he said then.

Messi’s contract with Major League Soccer club Inter Miami runs until the end of the 2028 season.

In this year’s finals, Messi inspired Argentina to another final by scoring eight goals and provided two assists in the dramatic late comeback against England in the semi-finals.

But the dream of lifting the trophy again proved one match too far as the South Americans lost to Spain in the MetLife Stadium.

Messi was pictured in tears after receiving his loser’s medal. He said afterwards that the pain of defeat was “immense” and that it would “take a long time for this wound to heal”.

- ‘Thank you for everything’ -

In his statement on Monday, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner said it was time for a new generation of Argentina players to take up the torch.

“I love, I loved, and I will always love being on the national team,” he wrote. “I gave everything I had, I have nothing more to give, and besides, there are some very talented young players coming up behind me who deserve to be there.”

Reacting to the news, FIFA president Gianni Infantino called Messi “one of the greatest players our sport has ever seen” and thanked him for “bringing so much joy to millions of football fans”.

First called up in 2005 by Jose Nestor Pekerman as an 18-year-old, Messi would go on to play 207 times for Argentina and become the country’s leading scorer, with 125 goals.

Messi also won two Copa Americas in 2021 and 2024 during his 21-year international career.

Yet, prior to the trophy-laden later years, Messi did not hold the place in Argentine hearts reserved for other national idols such as Diego Maradona or Pope Francis.

After moving to Catalonia at 13 to join Barcelona, Messi could have represented Spain but chose Argentina.

His long-time team-mate Angel Di Maria, also a 2022 world champion, on Monday paid homage to Messi for this choice and his impact on the national team.

“We will be forever grateful to you for being Argentinian and for having taken Argentina to the top of the world,” Di Maria said.

“For having chosen to be Argentinian when you could have chosen something else. Thank you for everything.”

For Ernesto Godoy, a 38-year-old teacher in Buenos Aires, Messi’s retirement from international football marks “the end of an incredible career, a sportsman of a calibre rarely seen”.

“There was Maradona, then a void, then Messi, and now we’re going to experience that void (again), life without Messi, just as Argentina did without Maradona,” he told AFP of the player who hangs up his shirt assured of his place in the Argentine pantheon.