Lionel Messi has retired from international football. Photo: Instagram An era has ended in international football following Lionel Messi's retirement. 41 days after losing the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, Messi has called it quits. He will continue to play for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer. Messi had seemingly written his retirement message right after unsuccessfully leading Argentina to the final. He didn't press the publish button and the announcement was delayed. Messi waited 41 days to say goodbye: what happened between writing his retirement note and finally posting it? Here, we delve deeper into it. On July 19, Argentina suffered a heartbreak against Spain in the final of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and lost 1-0 in extra time. Messi failed to score in the big final. Argentina's manager Lionel Scaloni wasn't sure if Messi would continue to play after the defeat. Messi reportedly wrote his retirement message on July 21. Having played six World Cups and 207 games, Messi was seemingly done with international football. But he didn't press the publish button! Reason? His father's deteriorating health. Messi's father, Jorge, was dealing with sickness while his son was leading Argentina in the football extravaganza. On August 8, Jorge Messi died in Rosario, Argentina, aged 68. He was in the US for his MLS stint when his father died. Messi and his wife returned to Argentina following the death of his father. "Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone. It hasn’t sunk in, or rather, I don’t want it to. It’s so hard for me to imagine that I’m never going to see you again, that we’re never going to talk again. I know you were suffering and that this is for the best, but you left us far too soon. We still had so much left to enjoy together. You kept asking me to play in one last World Cup, and just days before it began was when your condition got worse. It was the first time you weren’t going to be there with me at a tournament, but Mom kept telling me you were going to get better and that you’d be well enough to travel. I kept telling you we were going to reach the final so you could make the trip," Messi wrote on Instagram on August 12. In the same post, he publicly cast doubt on whether he wanted to continue playing football. Jorge was the pillar behind Messi's success and he stayed with him in Barcelona after the club signed him aged 13. Messi's mother and siblings moved back to Argentina. Messi had a 17-year-long association with Barcelona. Lionel Messi has made his return for Inter-Miami. Photo: AP A bereaved Messi made his on-field return for Inter Miami in Major League Soccer on August 15. He was scoring for Inter Miami, but the club was struggling to register a win. There is no one like Lionel Messi! He scored four goals as Inter Miami ended their five-match-long winless streak. They crushed a struggling Montreal 7-1 to return to winning ways. Messi, who was fourth in the Golden Boot race, jumped to the top spot with 18 goals. A day after his dream performance, Messi retired from international football, ending his career with 125 goals for Argentina. Perhaps, he felt it was the right time to say goodbye to international football. A one-time World Cup winner, Messi has the most wins in the tournament's history. He won 23 games across six World Cup editions. Messi scored 19 goals, the most for Argentina. Rishav Narang is an experienced writer with nine years of experience in sports journalism. He extensively writes on cricket and covers live matches, b... View More