Lionel Messi last match: Argentina legend has big plans for the future as golden era ends

Arguably Argentina's greatest ever player - only Diego Maradona comes close - announced his retirement from the national team on 31 August, six weeks after the World Cup final defeat by Spain, saying he had nothing more to give.

His club career though goes on. The contract with Inter Miami runs to the end of the 2028 season, but it is reviewed year by year, and nobody close to him expects him to walk away a day before he has to.

Ask the people around him what comes after that and they smile, because Messi has never really planned beyond his next game.

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Messi used to like the idea of being a sporting director or an adviser to the president, close to the decisions without all the travelling and the phone calls.

A coach lives and dies by every Saturday and has to worry about far too many things for Messi's liking.

The groundwork is being laid in Spain. UE Cornella, on the edge of Barcelona and in the fifth tier, is the nursery where young players grow. He bought it in April.

Eldense will be the club that leads his football operation, but the target this season is not to get relegated, so former Villarreal boss Javi Calleja got the job with the arrival of the new owner.

For now he follows every Eldense match closely on his computer. After Eldense beat Real Oviedo by four goals to one, his first message as owner was an Instagram post that read "Aupa Deportivo".

In Uruguay he and Luis Suarez founded Deportivo LSM in May 2025, and they won promotion to the country's third tier in its first season.

There is a link to Miami as well. As part of his contract with Inter Miami, he will have some shares in the club when he retires. A franchise of his own is not part of the plan.