Lionel Messi voices doubts over playing future after father Jorge’s death in Rosario
Lionel Messi said on Wednesday he is having doubts about continuing his football career after his father, Jorge, died last week at a medical clinic in Rosario, Argentina. The comment followed his public tribute to his father on social media.
Jorge Messi died aged 68 after a long illness, the club posted. Jorge closely accompanied his son throughout his career, beginning with his early years at Barcelona, and for several years served as his representative.
In a tribute on Instagram, Messi wrote: “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I don’t know how to move forward. I only played football and now I have quite a few doubts about whether I’m going to keep doing it for much longer. You were by my side from the beginning; there was so little left until the end. Why couldn’t you hold on just a little longer so we could finish it together?”
Messi said one of the reasons he played in the last World Cup was because it was his father’s wish. “You always asked me to play in the last World Cup and a few days before it started was when you got worse,” Messi said. “It was the first time you weren’t going to be at a tournament … Every time a match ended, I would wait and hope for your message. That’s when I realised how real the situation was.”
During the World Cup, Messi scored a hat-trick in the opening match against Algeria and broke down in tears while celebrating his first goal; he later described those tears as due to “something unrelated to football” after going through “a few difficult, complicated days”. Argentina finished runners-up to Spain after an extra-time defeat in the final.
Reflecting on the final, Messi said he had tried to push beyond his limits but could not continue. “My legs couldn’t go on any more. This time I tried to push myself beyond my physical limits, but I couldn’t. I never felt well … 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 also pledged to keep his father’s influence alive within his family. “I’m going to miss you so much, but you will always be present, especially in the upbringing of my children, because I will teach them and raise them the way you raised me.”
The 39-year-old Argentina captain wrote: “I only played football and now I have quite a few doubts about whether I’m going to keep doing it for much longer.”