Lionel Messi's Legacy and Argentina's Future
Lionel Messi is edging towards the final curtain of his international career, and Argentina can already feel the chill of what comes next.
At 39, he will walk away as the country’s record appearance maker and record goalscorer, a World Cup-winning captain with 125 goals in 207 caps and a legacy that has redefined what an Argentine No.10 can be. Replacing him is impossible. Living without him is unavoidable.
Alexis Mac Allister knows it. You can hear it in the way he talks about his captain and the void that waits on the other side.
“There will never be another like him”
Speaking to ESPN, Mac Allister didn’t reach for new superlatives. He went back to the basics that have followed Messi for two decades.
“The words for Messi are always the same: gratitude, and the realisation that there will never be another like him,” he said. “We’ve enjoyed our time with him immensely. We’re also grateful to him for everything he’s helped us win. It’s sure to be a very emotional occasion.”
This isn’t just about a great player bowing out. It’s about a team and a footballing culture that have been built around one man’s genius, suddenly having to imagine themselves without it.
Mac Allister made it clear: Argentina can’t just cling to nostalgia. They have to evolve.
“It will be a different process with new players coming in,” he explained. “We need to start realising that the best player in the world, the one who made all the difference, won’t be there anymore, and that we’ll have to grow stronger as a team.”
The message is blunt. The Messi era is ending. The next Argentina will have to be less about one celestial talent and more about collective resilience.
Ballon d’Or debate? Not for Argentina
As long as Messi is still playing, one individual question never really goes away: the Ballon d’Or.
Mac Allister didn’t hesitate when asked if his captain deserves another crack at the award after that extraordinary World Cup triumph.
“As Argentines we’d love for Messi to win it. He had an incredible World Cup and I don’t see why he shouldn’t be awarded it,” he said. “We all know that Leo has always prioritised the team over individual achievements, so it wouldn’t be a big deal for him.”
For Messi, the Ballon d’Or has long since stopped defining his greatness. For his teammates, it would be a final, fitting decoration on a career that has already delivered everything they dreamed of.
Club uncertainty for Mac Allister
While Messi’s future with Argentina feels like a countdown, Mac Allister’s own club future sits in a different kind of limbo.
The midfielder has already admitted frustration that Liverpool have not moved to extend his contract, especially after fellow midfielders Ryan Gravenberch and Dominik Szoboszlai secured new deals. For a player who has become a key figure in the middle of the park, the silence from the boardroom has been hard to ignore.
Despite interest elsewhere in the summer, he stayed at Anfield. Commitment on the pitch, questions off it.
“There’s no firm decision yet. I still have two years left on my contract,” Mac Allister said. “As I said, I’m going to give it my all. A lot can happen in that time; there are plenty of options.”
The uncertainty hasn’t dimmed his view of where he is. If anything, it has sharpened it.
“Hopefully it’ll be for more years, but if it’s just two, I’ll have to enjoy them with my family, because I have no doubt that I’m at one of the best clubs in the world.”
So Mac Allister stands at a crossroads: part of a national team preparing to live without its greatest icon, and part of a club side that still hasn’t fully defined his long-term role.
Messi’s path is clear: one last stretch, one last embrace, one last goodbye. Mac Allister’s is not. And as Argentina step into the unknown, he may find that his own future, for club and country, becomes central to what comes next.
