▲ Lionel Messi walks inside El Prado Cemetery, where the remains of his father, Jorge Messi, are enshrined.
Football legend Lionel Messi, 39, has released a heartfelt letter mourning his late father, Jorge Messi.
On the 11th (local time), after returning to Miami, Messi posted a letter to his father on his social media account.
Jorge Messi passed away on the 8th in Rosario, Argentina, at the age of 68.
"I still cannot believe that dad is gone," Messi wrote. "It is hard to imagine that I can no longer see or talk to him. There was still so much we wanted to enjoy together, but he left us too soon."
The most striking part of the letter was the story surrounding his father's battle with illness during the 2026 World Cup.
"Dad begged me to play in what would be my final World Cup," Messi revealed, adding that "just days before the tournament opened, dad's condition worsened the most."
At the time, Messi had hoped his father would recover and be able to come watch the matches in person.
"I told him that we would make it to the final and he could come then," he recalled. "After every match, I waited for a message from dad, and that was when I realized the situation was truly serious."
Messi said he played through the tournament with the desire to show his father even one more match.
"I wanted to buy time somehow and go as far as possible so that dad could watch at least one game in person," he wrote.
Argentina advanced to the final, but Jorge was unable to watch the match in person.
"I wanted to win and bring the trophy to dad and show him a new one," Messi wrote. "But I couldn't. This time I tried to defy my physical limits, but it was impossible. My legs had no strength."
Messi also shared the situation when he went to visit his father after the World Cup concluded.
"When I arrived, dad thought we had lost the final in a penalty shootout," he wrote. "I couldn't tell him everything that happened. He wasn't able to enjoy any of it."
He added, "Dad won't know how much we enjoyed every match. Once again, dad was right. I needed to be there and I needed to play (in the World Cup)."
Messi also openly confessed how his father's death would affect his future football career.
"I don't know what I should do without dad, or how I can keep going," he wrote. "I only ever played football, and now I am not sure if I can continue doing this for much longer."
He continued, expressing his deep longing for a father who passed away before his retirement: "You were by my side from the very beginning, and there was truly only a little bit left until the end. Why couldn't you hold on just a little longer and finish it together with me?"
Messi is not the only figure in Argentine football whose drive for the sport has been shaken by the shock of losing a father.
Carlos Tevez, a Boca Juniors legend and former forward who played for Manchester United, Manchester City, and Juventus, suspended his playing career after losing his father Segundo in 2021, and upon officially announcing his retirement the following year, said, "I stopped playing football because I lost my number one fan."
(Photo: Getty Images)
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