From suspicion to devotion: Lionel Messi’s long journey from ‘outsider’ to Argentina’s undisputed leader

When Lionel Messi makes his final appearance for Argentina against Benin at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, it will mark the end of an international career that has spanned more than two decades.It will also pull back the curtain on a relationship that took time to develop. Argentinian football authorities once struggled to even identify a teenage Messi, who was developing his career far from home. Over the years, he went from a suspect to the leader of the national team and one of the most important figures in Argentine football.“He lived through so many moments that they are really very different eras. He suffered immensely with the national team at the beginning. He really endured,” Argentine journalist and writer Sergio Levinsky, who wrote “Messi and Everything Else,” told Reuters.Messi moved to Barcelona as a teenager. While Spain tried to convince him to play for them, Argentina had limited knowledge of the youngster from Rosario.At the 2003 U17 World Cup in Finland, Spain defeated Argentina 3–2 after extra time in the semi-finals. According to Levinsky, Cesc Fabregas, who scored twice in the match and was Messi’s teammate at Barcelona’s La Masia academy, told the Argentine delegates after the match: “You lost to us because we have your best player in Barcelona and he is a genius.”Argentina youth coach Hugo Tocalli recalled a similar conversation. Speaking at the Ole Summit last month, he said a Spanish chef told him Argentina needed “a kid who plays in Barcelona” to win the tournament.The Argentine Football Association (AFA) then had to find a teenager who had already made an impression in Spain.AFA employee Omar Souto traced the Messi family through Rosario’s phone book, but when he got in touch he asked for “Leonardo”.“His name isn’t Leonardo, he’s Lionel,” Souto said, according to the documentary “Messi: The Forgotten Tape.”Even Messi’s name caused confusion in the papers. Levinsky said the AFA sent a fax to Barcelona asking about a player named “Mecci,” spelling the last name with a double “c,” because officials believed he might be Italian.Love in the makingMessi finally played two U20 friendlies for Argentina in 2004, making his first appearance in a blue and white shirt. But doubts remained about him.At the 2005 Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, Messi started on the bench as Argentina lost their opening match.“There was strong resistance to draft a kid who hadn’t played in the country,” Levinsky said, according to Reuters. “He had to fight against these initial suspicions, against being considered a foreigner because he lived in Spain.”Messi was later criticized for not producing the same level of football for Argentina as he did for Barcelona. Some fans even called him “pecho frio”, suggesting that he lacked heart or fire.The 2011 World Cup qualifier against Colombia became an important moment to change this perception. Messi helped Argentina recover from a goal down in difficult conditions.“He was exhausted, he even threw up, and he ended up winning,” Levinsky said. “It was the first time the fans saw him differently.The relationship grew stronger after Messi briefly retired from international football following Argentina’s penalty shootout defeat by Chile in the 2016 Copa America final. Instead of blaming, Argentina fans publicly called for him to return.“People realized that he was not responsible for the defeats. He was the one who got them to the finals,” Levinsky added.Under Lionel Scaloni, Messi has become the clear leader of a new generation of Argentine players. He led the team to two Copa America titles and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.As Messi became a more vocal captain, comparisons to Diego Maradona became inevitable. But Levinsky believes the debate over who was Argentina’s greatest player misses the bigger picture.“It’s Messi and Maradona,” he added. “They were both geniuses at different times.“Messi was like suddenly finding out you have an 18-year-old son,” Levinsky said. “You have to start loving him without knowing he existed. It was love in the making.”