BENGLAURU: THE Estadio Monumental is, technically speaking, a building in Buenos Aires. But to reduce it to just that would be to miss the point. It's an Argentine institution, an indescribable emotion. For almost 90 years, the Monumental — in its various forms and shapes — has housed the country's national football team. In its current avatar, the Monumental is one of South America's biggest sporting cathedrals. The Stadium's walls and pillars have seen and heard things people will keep talking about a millennium later.
On Tuesday, the stadium's walls and pillars witnessed another memory, one thousands of Argentines will protect like a family heirloom. Over 85000 people crammed into the Stadium to see a sporting deity — their principal sporting deity — for one final time.
In isolation, an international football friendly between Argentina and Benin would hardly move the needle. But this was a national celebration fit enough for the visit of the current Pope. Buenos Aires decked itself nice and early, fireworks lit up the night sky as if to mark the beginning of a new year and when it was finally time to bid goodbye, grown men and women wept together.
Strangers hugged each other, the opposition learned Spanish to convey their thanks and the referee stopped play after the ninth minute to allow the catharsis of the fans to play itself out. There wasn't a dry eye in the house as sadness engulfed one of the continent's most well-known amphitheatres.
Nobody died, but the overwhelming feeling, even for the ones watching it on TV from a different continent half the world away, was grief.
In the end, three words felt sufficient. Just like those Benin players had mouthed, 'gracias, Lionel Messi'.
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"It's hard to talk," said Messi, whose family watched him from the stands alongside some of the nation's WC winners of 1978, 1986 and 2022.
"There are a lot of emotions, a lot of things going through my head. The first thing I think about is my old man." It was a nod to his father, Jorge, who had passed away in August.
"It was a huge source of pride for me to wear this shirt all this time, more than 20 years. Not coming anymore is going to hurt a lot. I swear, I'd love to keep coming my whole life, because playing for Argentina is the most beautiful thing that can happen to you.
"This is where I experienced one of the happiest days of my career: when we played again after winning the World Cup. I'll never forget what I experienced that day. It was beautiful. To this day, I watch videos, and I get emotional. That day will forever be etched in my history, in theirs, in my family's… It was spectacular, thank you so much."
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When Messi made his Argentina debut as a teen, there was a clamour to give him the keys to the team. When he had become the world's best at Barcelona, people had routinely questioned his dedication and devotion to the national team. Now? The hoi polloi revere him, shower him with an adulation usually reserved for that favourite uncle who visits during Christmas.
The match itself was academic except for when the 39-year-old decided he had to do something. So he assisted two before scoring via the penalty spot.
Analysis pieces on a post-Messi Argentina will start trickling in over the next few months, for the world of elite sport always looks ahead. But a rare exception can be made: it's not every day that a legend walks away on his terms in front of his own public at a time of his own choosing.
When Diego Maradona left, the world had wondered. A Messi came along. But the world will be right to wonder. Will there be another like him? Somebody else will have to carry that flame forward. But one thing will be evident. Some parts of that flame will never be allowed to die. It was the case after Maradona. That will continue after Messi.
That will be his ultimate legacy.
Result: Argentina 3-0 Benin.
