Messi set for home farewell against hopeful Venezuela | OneFootball

Two decades after his debut with the albiceleste shirt, Lionel Messi is preparing to play his last match in Argentina for the South American World Cup Qualifiers for 2026 on Thursday, on a night that promises to be exciting against a Venezuelan team determined to qualify for the first time in their history.

A few hours after his team, Inter Miami, lost the Leagues Cup final, the 38-year-old star flew to Buenos Aires to join the world champions, accompanied by his entire family and friends.

With Argentina already qualified in advance for the North America World Cup and first place also guaranteed, Thursday night promises tears in what is almost certain: against Venezuela, for the penultimate round of the Qualifiers, Messi will play his last official match in his country.

The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner, who is already the top scorer in the history of his country's team (112 goals) and also the player with the most matches played (193), postponed a farewell that was presumed imminent after his triumph in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“The right to decide”

Although not confirmed, the expectation is that, if he arrives in good physical shape, Messi will be present at the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and during which he would celebrate his 39th birthday and become the first player to participate in six World Cups.

“It will be a very special match (against Venezuela) for me, because it is the last of the Qualifiers. I don't know if there will be friendlies or more games after. We will live it this way. After that, I don't know what will happen, but that's the intention,” said the number 10 recently.

Without confirmed friendlies at home for next year, everything indicates that on Thursday Messi will begin to say goodbye to the affection of thousands of his compatriots, as a return to the World Cup Qualifiers for 2030 seems unlikely — although not impossible — to happen.

In this context, it was no surprise that the nearly 80,000 tickets at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires for the probable farewell of the man considered by many the greatest football player in history have already sold out.

The trajectory of the man who wore the 'albiceleste' shirt for the first time in 2005 is today filled with joy, but has gone through moments of deep sadness.

“We always seek melancholy, even when we are having fun (...) Let's enjoy Messi while we have him. Whatever has to happen, will happen. It's important to enjoy him now, and not think about what will happen in the future. He earned the right to decide when to do that,” said the Argentine national team coach, Lionel Scaloni.

“Spoil” the party

It is in this atmosphere that Argentina will receive Venezuela (at 8:30 pm, Brasília time), which still has chances to dispute its first World Cup and refuses to be a mere supporting role in the party prepared for Messi.

The Argentine coach of the Vinotinto, Fernando Batista, admitted in statements to ESPN how special this match is. “I'm coming to spoil (the celebration) in a good way. We are playing for qualification”.

After 16 rounds, Argentina leads the South American Qualifiers with 35 points, 10 ahead of Ecuador and Brazil (25), while Venezuela (18 points) currently occupies the seventh position, which would take it to the intercontinental playoffs, but with Bolivia (17) on its tail.

The Vinotinto, the only South American team that has never played a World Cup, will play its hopes in Buenos Aires and in a crucial match against Colombia on Tuesday at home, in Maturín, while the Bolivians will visit the Colombian team this Thursday and end the Qualifiers against Brazil in El Alto.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.