Lionel Messi will be called up to the Argentine national team to prepare for the friendly match with Benin on October 6, at Estadio Monumenta stadium. The Argentine Football Federation confirmed that this is a match for El Pulga to say goodbye to the national team.
President of the Argentine Football Federation Claudio Tapia said that the match will be held to show gratitude to Messi after he announced his retirement from the national team. Tapia also invited members of the Argentina squad that won the 2022 World Cup and their families to attend the event.
To all Argentine fans, I would like to announce that, after the exchange with head coach Lionel Scaloni, we have decided to invite Lionel Messi back to have a worthy farewell on October 6th, in Argentina.
After Messi accepted, we also decided to invite all players who have won the 2022 World Cup and stood side by side with him in Qatar, along with their families to attend this special match" - Tapia said.
Messi announced his retirement from the Argentine national team in an Instagram post on August 31. He closed his international journey as the player who has worn the Argentine jersey the most and scored the most goals. Messi currently has 125 goals after 207 appearances for the national team.
Before the match against Benin, Argentina will successively meet Bolivia on September 30 and Burkina Faso on October 3. These are the final matches before the Argentine team organizes a show of gratitude to Messi at Monumental.
