Argentina football icon Lionel Messi has opened up about the devastating loss of his father, Jorge Messi, revealing that he is now seriously questioning whether he will continue playing football for much longer.
In an emotional tribute to his late father, Messi said he was struggling to imagine life without the man who had been beside him from the earliest stages of his football career.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I don’t know how to carry on,” Messi wrote.
“I only played football, and now I have serious doubts about whether I’ll continue doing it for much longer. You were by my side from the very beginning, and there was so little time left until the end.”
Messi’s tribute painted a deeply personal picture of the relationship he shared with his father, describing Jorge not only as his parent but also as his friend, representative and one of the most important figures throughout his extraordinary career.
The Argentine superstar questioned why his father could not have remained alive a little longer so they could complete their journey together.
“Why couldn’t you hold on just a little longer so we could finish this journey together?” he asked.
Messi admitted that he was finding it extremely difficult to accept his father’s death and could not come to terms with the reality that they would never again speak or see each other.
“Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone. I can’t process it, or rather, I don’t want to,” he said.
“It’s so difficult for me to imagine that I’ll never see you again, that we’ll never talk again. I know you were suffering and that this is for the best, but you left too soon. We still had so much more to enjoy together.”
Recalling the period surrounding the last World Cup, Messi said his father had repeatedly encouraged him to play in the tournament despite his worsening condition.
“You kept asking me to play in the last World Cup, and just days before it started, that was when your condition got worse,” Messi recalled.
It was the first major tournament Jorge would not be able to attend, although Messi said his mother continued to reassure him that his father would recover and eventually travel to watch him.
“I told you that we were going to reach the final so that you could travel and watch me,” he said.
But Messi said he began to understand just how serious his father’s condition had become when the messages he normally received from Jorge after his matches stopped coming.
“Every time a match ended, I would wait for and miss your message. That was when I realised that things were really bad,” Messi said.
Despite his emotional and physical struggles, Messi continued pushing through the tournament, hoping his father would recover in time to watch him.
Argentina eventually reached the final, but Jorge was unable to be there.
“We reached the final, but you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it so I could take the trophy to you and show you a new one. I couldn’t,” Messi said.
“My legs had nothing left. This time, I tried to fight against my physical condition, but I couldn’t. I never managed to feel well.”
Messi recalled that his father initially believed Argentina had lost the final on penalties when he arrived, meaning they were unable to fully discuss the outcome and everything surrounding the tournament.
The football star, however, said the World Cup journey remained deeply meaningful to both of them.
“We didn’t become 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,” he said.
Messi said the World Cup was one of the few subjects they never properly discussed because his father already understood how much the tournament meant to him.
“I’m telling you this because it was the one thing we never got to talk about, because you already knew everything else. We spoke every day and saw each other whenever my commitments allowed it,” he said.
Looking back at his childhood, Messi recalled how his father made sacrifices to ensure he could attend football training despite his work commitments.
“You took me to every training session as soon as you came home from work. Mum took me to many of them because you were working,” he said.
“Obviously, you never missed a single match. How you suffered watching me play, and how much you enjoyed it, even though you never gave me many compliments.”
For Messi, Jorge’s influence extended far beyond football.
“You were a father, a friend and my representative. You were always the person you needed to be in every moment, and you were never wrong about anything,” he said.
“Beyond some disagreements and arguments, you were always right. In the end, things always turned out the way you said they would.”
Messi also reflected on the legacy his father would leave through his children, saying Jorge’s influence would continue in the way he raises his own family.
“I’m going to miss you so much, but you will always be present, especially in the way I raise my children, because I will teach and raise them the way you and Mum raised me,” Messi said.
The football legend concluded his emotional tribute with a message of love, gratitude and remembrance.
“Rest in peace, and watch over us from above as you did when you were here. Thank you for everything,” he wrote.
“I love you, Dad.”