Argentina says goodbye to Messi in final national team match, ending an era

Lionel Messi, 39, is set to bid farewell to international soccer Tuesday in a friendly against Benin in Buenos Aires, according to www.nbcsports.com. What would otherwise be an unremarkable match has become the moment this soccer-crazed country has long dreaded.

The game is Messi's 208th for Argentina, closing 21 years, 125 goals, two Copa América titles, and a World Cup championship, per the source. The Argentine soccer federation billed the occasion as "the last tango."

Valentino Ruso, 17, was heading to a friend's house in Buenos Aires to watch. "It feels like an era is ending, knowing he won’t play for the national team anymore," he said. "I’m sad. I think everyone is upset today. He will be missed."

More than 85,000 tickets to the city's largest stadium sold out in 90 minutes, later fetching over $2,500 on resale sites.

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The shy boy who left Rosario at 13 for Barcelona’s youth academy grew into a global icon — and his own country was never sure what to make of him, per www.nbcsports.com.

Argentines adored him and abused him, doubted his commitment and accused him of indifference to his own nation. The relationship was intense, often unforgiving, a mirror of the country’s own restless expectations.

His Aug. 31 announcement that he would retire from the national team came weeks after Argentina’s loss to Spain in the World Cup final, as reported. The exact date of that final is not specified in the source.