Messi’s final Argentina match pits World Cup runners-up against Benin

Argentina host Benin at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on Tuesday local time, with kick-off at 00:00 BST on Wednesday, in what will be Lionel Messi’s final international match. A specially designed Argentina kit has been made for the occasion, and the shirt Messi wears could become one of the most expensive ever sold.

What is the match and who is playing?

Benin, a small west African country next to Nigeria, are used to being left in the shadow of their footballing neighbour. Their squad for the friendly is drawn largely from leagues in Finland, Switzerland’s second tier and the South African Premiership. Argentina, the World Cup runners-up, beat fellow west African side Burkina Faso 7-0 in their warm-up match. Their World Cup campaign included a semi-final against Croatia.

Benin captain Steve Mounie said his side would arrive with a defined approach. “We are a team that is very disciplined,” he said. “We have a lot of young talent in the team right now that have good technical skills.”

Who is Steve Mounie and will he play?

Steve Mounie is Benin’s captain and a forward for the German Bundesliga club FC Augsburg; he played for Huddersfield Town between 2017 and 2020. He has been a regular for the national side for more than a decade but said he had never played a game for Benin outside Africa. Injury rules him out of the Argentina match, but he travelled with the squad and paid for his own ticket.

“When the coach called me and told me about this game. We didn’t know it was going to be the last game of Leo Messi,” Mounie told BBC Sport. “It was like the cherry on top of the cake.”

Mounie said he would rather be on the bench than in the stands. “I cannot play,” he said. “I just came to join the team, to support the team.”

Why could Messi’s shirt be one of the most expensive ever?

Doug Bierton, founder of Classic Football Shirts, said match-worn Messi shirts are “incredibly tough” to obtain “because everybody knows how valuable they are”. He placed the jersey from Messi’s last international in the same category as Diego Maradona’s shirt from the 1986 World Cup match against England, which sold for £7.1m at auction in May 2022, and Zinedine Zidane’s shirt from his final France appearance, the 2006 World Cup final in which he was sent off for headbutting Italy’s Marco Materazzi.

“So every player on the pitch is looking to swap with him. It’s the first time a legend has bowed out with a special edition shirt,” Bierton said. He added that Messi’s team-mates could also want the jersey, naming Rodrigo De Paul.

How is the game expected to unfold?

The friendly is a sold-out fixture at the Estadio Monumental. Messi is unlikely to play the full 90 minutes, with a second-half substitution a more likely ending that would let the crowd say farewell to Argentina’s captain. Bierton said he would watch the match simply to see who swaps shirts with Messi.

Frequently asked questions

When is Lionel Messi’s last game for Argentina?

Argentina face Benin at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on Tuesday local time, which is 00:00 BST on Wednesday.

Why is Steve Mounie not playing for Benin against Argentina?

Mounie is injured and will take no part in the match, but he travelled with the squad after paying for his own ticket so he could watch the game.

How much could Messi’s final Argentina shirt sell for?

No figure has been set. Collector Doug Bierton compared it to Diego Maradona’s 1986 World Cup shirt, which sold for £7.1m at auction in May 2022.

With reporting from BBC News.

Stock image, not from the events described. City Skyline — Joe deSousa / Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)