Messi speaks publicly for the first time after his father's death

On 12.08.2026 Lionel Messi for the first time addressed the public after the death of his father, Jorge Messi, sharing a long personal message on social media about his grief and doubts about his future in football. Jorge Messi died after a long and serious illness, the family said.

Messi's message

Messi posted a heartfelt note directed to his father in which he reflected on the last months and the pain of losing him.

“Dad, I still can't believe you've gone. I'm not falling, or rather, I don't want to fall. It's very hard for me to imagine that I will no longer see you, that we will no longer talk. I know you suffered and that this is for the best, but you left too soon. We still had many things to enjoy together.

You begged me so much to play in the last World Cup, and precisely in the days before it started your condition worsened. It was the first time you weren't at a tournament, but my mother told me you'd be better and well enough to travel. I told you we would get to the final so you could come.

After every match I waited for you and missed your greeting. Then I realized the situation was really serious. Still, I didn't stop thinking about getting as far as possible, to buy you time and for you to be able to watch at least one game. We reached the final, and you couldn't be there.

I wanted to win it to bring it to you and show you a new trophy. I didn't; my legs no longer listened to me. This time I tried to go against my body, but I couldn't. I never managed to feel good.”

In the continuation of his post Messi wrote that his father was already in very poor condition during the final of the last World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada, which Argentina lost to Spain.

“When I arrived, you thought we had lost the final on penalties. We couldn't talk about everything that had happened. You couldn't enjoy anything. We didn't become champions, but you have no idea how much we enjoyed every match. Again you were right: I had to be there and play.

I'm telling you this because it was the only thing we didn't get to talk about, because for everything else you already know. We talked every day and we saw each other whenever I could, given my commitments.” Messi added.

He concluded the post by saying the loss has left him uncertain about continuing his playing career.

“I don't know what I'll do without you, I don't know how to go on. The only thing I did was play football, and now I have many doubts about whether I will continue to do that much longer.

You were by my side from the very beginning; so little was left to the end. Why couldn't you hold on a little longer so we could finish together?

I know your happiness was to see your family well, your wife, your children, and above all, without others knowing, to watch me play… You always were like that since I was little. You took me to all the training sessions as soon as you came back from work. You missed many of them because of that, but you never missed a single match. How much you suffered watching me and how much you enjoyed, even though you never gave me many compliments.

You were a father, a friend and my representative.

You were always the person who had to be right at every moment and you were never wrong. Except for a few remarks or arguments, you were always right. In the end, things always turned out the way you said.

I will miss you a lot, but you will always be present, especially in the upbringing of my children, because I teach and raise them the way you both raised me.

Rest in peace and keep us from above, as you did here below. Thank you for everything.

I love you, Dad.”

Messi's public message closes a chapter of personal sorrow that has coincided with one of the most intense periods of his sporting career; the Argentinian captain thanked his father for lifelong support and described how the loss is forcing him to rethink his immediate future on the pitch.

Photo: press material from the event