Lionel Messi publicly said goodbye this Wednesday to his father, Jorge, who passed away early Saturday morning in Rosario, through a heartbreaking letter he posted on his Instagram account. In the text, the Argentine footballer shares the intimate conversations he had with his family before and during the 2026 World Cup, to the point that he tried to extend the Albiceleste’s participation until the tournament final, which they indeed played against Spain, so that his father could recover and travel to watch him play in person at the stadium, as he had done in the previous five World Cups.
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“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, I don’t know how to go on. I only played football and now I have many doubts about continuing to do so for much longer,” wrote Messi, 39 years old.
“Days before it started was when you got worse,” revealed Lionel, who cried during Argentina’s first match in the World Cup, when he scored three goals against Algeria. “It was for something extrafootball-related,” he explained then about his tears, which were accompanied by a message “I love you, I love you” in front of the television cameras, directed to his 68-year-old father. However, as Argentina’s participation in the World Cup progressed, Messi warned that “the situation (of his father’s health) was really bad.”
The number 10 of the Albiceleste made it clear in his letter that, besides playing for him, his teammates, the Argentine national team, and his compatriots, he also played driven by a very intimate hope: that his father could recover in time and travel to see him play, even if it was just one World Cup match. “I couldn’t stop thinking about going as far as possible, to give you time and for you to see a match,” wrote Messi, who also regretted that in the final against Spain “I couldn’t, my legs gave out. This time I tried to go against my body, but I couldn’t.”
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In his letter, Messi describes Jorge as “dad, friend, and agent.” “You left too soon,” he adds, while also sharing the last conversations, already back in his country after the World Cup. Messi returned to Rosario—where his father had been hospitalized in a local clinic for the two weeks prior to his death—on Tuesday, July 21, that is, two days after the final against Spain.
“When I arrived, you thought we had lost the final on penalties. We couldn’t talk about anything that happened. You couldn’t enjoy anything. We weren’t champions, but you don’t know how much we enjoyed every match. Once again, you were right: I had to be there and play it,” Messi posted.
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The footballer, who returned to the United States this Wednesday to resume his football activity with Inter Miami after having spent four days in Rosario participating in his father’s farewell ceremony, said goodbye with the promise to always remember him: “I’m going to miss you a lot, but you will always be present, especially in the education of my children, because I teach and raise them as you did with me. Rest in peace and watch over us from above as you did here. Thank you for everything. I love you, dad.”
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