Messi retired from international football following Argentina's FIFA World Cup final defeat to Spain, stating he has 'nothing left to give'. He called time on his career with the Albiceleste as the nation's record appearance-maker and record goalscorer, while he won the World Cup in 2022 and played in two further finals.
His influence and ability has made him the heart and soul of the national team for the best part of two decades but, in his absence, Argentina have performed well in their two games during this international break. And, while the 4-0 victory over Bolivia was impressive enough, they put seven past African nation Burkina Faso on Sunday morning.
There were seven different goalscorers, too, with Lautaro Martinez, Gianluca Prestianni, Nico Paz, Julian Alvarez, Franco Mastantuono and Giuliano Simeone all finding the back of the net, while Moumouni Diallo scored an own goal. The contributions of Paz and Mastantuono, in particular, will please head coach Lionel Scaloni given the duo are amongst the leaders to take up Messi's role in the team long-term.
Burkina Faso's travel plans were heavily disrupted in the build-up as their planned flight was cancelled due to technical issues, meaning several key players did not travel to Buenos Aires for the match. As a result, their team was mainly made up of younger players, but Argentina still displayed a hunger to perform, as explained by Scaloni himself afterwards.
"I would like to sincerely thank those from Burkina Faso who came," he said. "They honor football, and we tried to play this game as if it were a final. Because only in this way will these players receive the respect they deserve."
While Messi has announcement his international retirement, he will take the field in his country's shirt one last time when they play Benin on Wednesday in his farewell game. It promises to be an emotional evening as Argentina say goodbye to a living legend.