All eyes on Messi's last dance in Argentina
Living legend Lionel Messi will walk out at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires on Thursday night (5:30am Friday, Bangladesh time) knowing it will be his final World Cup qualifier on home soil.
At 38, the Argentina captain has already delivered everything: two Copa America titles, a World Cup in Qatar, and an enduring legacy that even his coach admits is "unrepeatable."
Argentina, long qualified for the 2026 World Cup and already top of the South American table, face Venezuela before travelling to Ecuador for their last fixture.
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The results no longer matter for Lionel Scaloni's side, but the emotion certainly does.
"Let's enjoy him now, as much as possible, as many games as he can play," Scaloni told Flashscore this week.
"At some point he won't be here, and the loss will be enormous. There can't be an heir to Messi. What he has done over such a long time will be impossible to repeat."
The coach, who guided Argentina to the 2022 World Cup, also stressed that the team must remain solid beyond Messi's era.
"Fortunately, we have players who make his absence less, and that's important," he said, adding that the Venezuela and Ecuador games were also a chance to test new faces.
Messi has not confirmed if the 2026 finals will be his swansong, but hinted that these are his last qualifiers. With Inter Miami, he has shown little sign of slowing down, scoring 27 goals and 11 assists this season, yet he knows time is against him.
But for many, all eyes will be on Buenos Aires. As Messi put it himself, tomorrow's game "will be a very special match" -- the last time Argentina's faithful get to see him in a qualifier at home.
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