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A sold out stadium of 85 thousand in Buenos Aires witness two farewell Lionel Messi goals in World Cup qualifier.<\/em><\/p>\n Published On 5 Sep 2025<\/span>5 Sep 2025<\/span><\/p>\n Lionel Messi made sure he had good memories of playing a home qualifier with Argentina\u2019s national team for the last time in his illustrious career.<\/p>\n The former Barcelona forward scored twice on Thursday in Argentina\u2019s 3-0 victory over Venezuela in front of a raucous sellout crowd that had gathered at Estadio Monumental to bid him farewell.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBeing able to finish this way here is what I\u2019ve always dreamed of,\u201d Messi said.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve experienced a lot of things on this pitch, both good and not so good, but it\u2019s always a joy to play in Argentina, in front of our fans.\u201d<\/p>\n Lionel Messi of Argentina stands in front of one of the many banners prepared for him by the home fans during the World Cup qualifier [Marcos Brindicci\/Getty Images]<\/p>\n Messi is yet to give any clues about when he will retire from the top level of the sport, but the qualifiers for the 2030 World Cup will begin in 2027, when he is 40.<\/p>\n The Argentina captain scored in the 39th and 80th minutes, and Lautaro Martinez added a goal in the 76th.<\/p>\n Messi now has 36 goals in South American World Cup qualifiers and remains the all-time scoring leader.<\/p>\n His Inter Miami teammate, Luis Suarez, has 29 goals in continental qualifying, but he has retired from Uruguay\u2019s national team. Bolivia\u2019s Marcelo Moreno Martins is third with 22.<\/p>\n Argentina\u2019s forward Lionel Messi bids final farewell as a player on home soil as he leaves the field in Buenos Aires [Juan Mabromata\/AFP]<\/p>\n Looking ahead, Messi clarified he will only compete in next year\u2019s World Cup if he feels physically fit.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited, eager. It\u2019s day by day, feeling the sensations. If I feel good, I enjoy it; if not, I\u2019d rather not be there,\u201d he said, adding that the nine months until the tournament kicks off \u201cis a long time\u201d.<\/p>\n Already qualified, the World Cup champions extended their tally to 38 points and will remain atop the South American qualifying standings regardless of what happens in the last round next Tuesday.<\/p>\n Venezuela, trying to qualify for its first World Cup, remains on 18 points and in seventh place. They\u2019re still in contention to advance to an intercontinental playoff.<\/p>\n Lionel Messi of Argentina shoots to score his team\u2019s first goal during the South American FIFA World Cup 2026 Qualifier match against Venezuela [Marcelo Endelli\/Getty Images]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A sold out stadium of 85 thousand in Buenos Aires witness two farewell Lionel Messi goals in World Cup qualifier. Published On 5 Sep 20255 Sep 2025 Lionel Messi made sure he had good memories of playing a home qualifier with Argentina\u2019s national team for the last time in his illustrious career. The former Barcelona<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":19225,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[7701,4674,130,11763,11764,7751,1413,1923,150,4723,550],"class_list":{"0":"post-19224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-brace","10":"tag-cup","11":"tag-downs","12":"tag-emotional","13":"tag-farewell","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-messi","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-venezuela","18":"tag-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/19225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n