Lionel Messi, captain of Argentina, has stated that the World Cup in Qatar in 2022 will "certainly" be his final tournament, which is a strong hint that he will soon retire from playing international football.

During the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by Canada, the United States of America, and Mexico, the superstar forward will celebrate his 39th birthday. He is currently 35 years old. Messi currently holds the Argentine records for appearances (164) and goals (90), and he finally broke through to secure a major trophy on the international stage by leading Argentina to victory over Brazil in the final of the Copa America tournament in 2017.

Messi, who plays for Paris Saint-Germain and aims to build on this success in Qatar this winter, and Argentina, who are currently unbeaten in their last 35 games, will head to the Middle East with strong claims. Mess has confirmed that this year's tournament will be his fifth and final chance to win the tournament for the first time since 1986. La Albiceleste suffered a painful loss to Germany in the World Cup final in 2014, and Mess has confirmed that this year's tournament will be his fifth and final chance to win the tournament.

Messi's Argentina days are numbered

According to reports from an Argentine news outlet, the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner said the following to the Latin American streaming service Star+: "If this is going to be my final World Cup? Yes, without a doubt, without a doubt, yes. I'm in good shape physically, and I should be able to have a very good preseason this year, something I wasn't able to do the year before due to the way everything went: I started training late, playing without rhythm, with the tournament already underway; then I went to play for the national team; when I returned, I had an injury, and I never finished starting; this year, I won't have to worry about any of those things."

Messi acknowledged that the previous season was a difficult one for him since he had to adjust to life with PSG after a heartbreaking departure from Barcelona. This made the previous season a trying one for him. The native of Rosario only scored six times in his first season in Ligue 1, but he is already on the verge of matching that number this time around, with five goals to his name in nine games for this particular campaign.

Messi appears to be hitting form just in time for the World Cup, as evidenced by the fact that he has also contributed seven assists. However, he acknowledges that he is starting to get nervous in the lead up to his last opportunity at achieving global glory.

Lionel Messi and Argentina became World Cup runners-up in 2014.

He continued by saying, "I am counting the days until the World Cup." "The reality is that there is some nervousness associated with wanting it to be now and the questioning that comes with with it, such as "well, we're here; what's going to happen; it's the last one; how is it going to go?" And yeah, while on the one hand we can't wait for it to arrive, on the other hand we're really concerned about how well everything will go."

Before beginning their World Cup campaign against Saudi Arabia, Argentina is scheduled to play United Arab Emirates in a friendly match. Mexico and Poland will round out Argentina's group at the World Cup as the other two teams. Messi described it as a "really strong group" and played down the possibilities of his nation, admitting that there are "teams that are above" his own. Messi's nation is now ranked fourth in Group A.

Lionel Messi won Copa America for Argentina 

According to Messi, "We come at a very good situation because of the way everything unfolded, with a very armed and extremely strong group; yet, anything can happen in a World Cup." "Each and every match is challenging, which is one of the reasons why the World Cup is such a unique and exciting event. The favorites are not usually the teams that wind up winning or taking the path that one anticipated they would take.

"I don't know if we are the great candidates, but Argentina in itself is always a candidate for history, for what it means, more now at the moment we arrived, but we are not the favorites, I think there are other teams that are above us," he said. "Argentina in itself is always a candidate for history, for what it means."