Messi scores penalty on farewell as Argentina's record cap holder bows out with 126 goals

Lionel Messi ended his Argentina career with a goal, converting a penalty in a 3-0 friendly win over Benin in Buenos Aires to close a 19-year international chapter as his country’s most-capped player and all-time top scorer.

The 39-year-old, who had announced his international retirement following defeat in the 2022 World Cup final, was invited back for a celebratory farewell match alongside his team-mates from Argentina’s triumphant Qatar squad. He departs with 208 senior caps — a national record — and 126 goals, also a record. He remains the only player in history to have started three World Cup finals.

The occasion briefly threatened to belong to someone else. Centre-back Nicolas Otamendi, 38, opened the scoring shortly after half-time when Benin failed to clear a Messi corner, before Nico Paz doubled the lead from the edge of the area on 61 minutes.

Messi’s moment arrived 10 minutes later. Tamimou Ouorou’s clumsy challenge on Agustin Giay gave the referee no choice, and the Inter Miami forward stepped up to blast the spot-kick into the roof of the net — his 126th and final goal in an Argentina shirt.

It had not been a straightforward evening before that. Benin goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou denied Messi inside the opening seven minutes, and the visitors almost caused a shock when Aiyegun Tosin volleyed wide. Messi also turned a cross narrowly wide midway through the first half and was off-target again in the 33rd minute, while Emi Martinez was required to keep out Junior Olaitan before the break.

Dandjinou continued to frustrate, saving an Enzo Fernandez header and denying Leonel Flores late on, but the result was never seriously in doubt once Otamendi broke the deadlock.

At full-time, Messi made an emotional farewell to the Buenos Aires crowd, drawing the curtain on an international career that began in 2005 and ultimately delivered the one trophy — the World Cup — that had long eluded him.