00:00Football fans in Buenos Aires reacted with shock and sadness on Monday to the news that Argentina superstar Lionel Messi
00:08is retiring from international football.
00:12Messi's 21 years on the national team were capped in 2022 when he led the squad to World Cup victory.
00:19Messi retiring is an enormous pain because he's the greatest player in history, and I feel there are some Argentinians
00:27who never fully appreciated him,
00:29and it's a deep pain. I've literally just found out. I saw the letter he posted, and I send him
00:36a big hug.
00:38I think that both here in Argentina and in Spain, it's very sad because you know that Messi brought a
00:44lot of joy to Spanish soccer,
00:47especially to Barcelona, and it feels sad. I mean, walking around the city with friends from here, and it's a
00:54day that feels sad.
00:57Messi's track record puts him shoulder to shoulder with Argentina's other football greats, Diego Maradona, and Brazilian icon Pele.
01:07The greatest of all time has left, and nobody is going to replace him, just as nobody replaced Cassius Clay
01:14or Mohamed Ali.
01:15Well, a genius just walked away at 39. Who can take away everything he achieved? Unique, unrepeatable, and I think
01:24that's great.
01:25He went out with his boots on, happy, doing well, genius.
01:31Messi will continue to play at club level with Inter Miami in America's Major League Soccer.
