Messi's Final Argentina Match: Benin Denounces Lack of Fair Play

Lionel Messi hung up his Argentina shirt Wednesday night at the Monumental stadium in Buenos Aires, scoring a penalty in a 3-0 victory over Benin. A historic evening that left a bitter taste for the Leopards, deprived of any memento of the event.

Benin coach Gernot Rohr acknowledged the magnitude of the moment before pointing out its disappointing behind-the-scenes reality. “We are very happy to go down in history, especially for a great gentleman of football like Lionel Messi. And to play this match at the Monumental, it was an extraordinary adventure for my young players,” he said. But the 73-year-old coach, a former manager of Nigeria, Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso, did not hide his disappointment: “The only downside is that the Argentines gave nothing to our players. Not even a photo of Messi.”

Rohr detailed his players’ unsuccessful attempts to exchange shirts after the final whistle. “We wanted to exchange shirts, we didn’t get a single one. They wouldn’t even let us into their corridor. Security refused everyone. Players came with their shirts to exchange with others. We tried everything but nothing worked.” The coach himself waited half an hour, eventually managing to hand Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni a Messi shirt from 2018 — which the Argentine coach signed before returning it to him.

Despite the frustration, Rohr sought to put the sporting stakes into perspective. “The result wasn’t the most important thing. For us, it was about learning, about giving our young players a very rich international experience that nobody could have imagined living one day.” A fair-play conclusion that does not, however, dispel the controversy over the reception reserved by the Argentine staff for their evening opponents.