Lionel Messi has broken his silence following the death of his father, Jorge Messi, opening up about the pain of losing the man who stood beside him from the beginning of his football journey.
In an emotional message shared on Instagram, the Argentina captain admitted that he is struggling to accept that his father is gone.
“Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone. I can’t take it in, or rather, I don’t want to.”
Jorge Messi, 68, died in Rosario last week after an illness. He was not only Messi’s father but also his longtime agent and one of the most influential figures in the footballer’s extraordinary career.
But in his farewell, Messi revealed a deeply personal side of the story, one that connects his father’s final days to the biggest tournament of his career.
Messi said his father had repeatedly asked him to play at the 2026 World Cup.
Just days before the tournament began, however, Jorge’s condition deteriorated.
Messi said his mother reassured him that his father would recover and could eventually travel to watch him play.
So he made his father a promise. “I told you we were going to reach the final so that you could travel.”
But the tournament became emotionally difficult for Messi.
After every match, he found himself waiting for the message from his father that had become part of his life.
“Every time I finished a match, I waited for and missed your message. That’s when I realised just how serious the situation really was.”
Still, Messi pushed on.vHe wanted Argentina to go as far as possible, partly because he hoped his father would have enough time to recover and watch him play.
Argentina reached the final. But Jorge could not make it. Messi said he wanted to win the trophy so that he could take it back to his father and show him another World Cup.
“I wanted to win it so I could bring it to you and show you another one.”
But Messi said his body eventually could not give him any more.
“My legs couldn’t give me any more.” When he returned home, there was another heartbreaking moment.
His father believed Argentina had lost the final on penalties.
They never got the chance to properly talk about what had happened. “You couldn’t enjoy any of it.”
Yet Messi said his father’s advice had once again proved right: he had to be at the World Cup and play.
The footballer then revealed perhaps the most painful part of his message.
He does not know what comes next. “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I don’t know how to carry on.”
For the first time, Messi openly questioned his own football future.
“All I ever did was play football, and now I have serious doubts about whether I’ll keep doing it for much longer.”
The revelation gives a glimpse into the enormous emotional weight Messi has been carrying while continuing to play at the highest level.
Jorge was there from the beginning. Messi recalled how his father would take him to training as soon as he returned from work, while his mother also helped take him to sessions when Jorge was working.
And no matter what happened, Jorge never missed a match.
“Obviously, you never missed a single match.”
Messi said his father suffered while watching him play but also took enormous joy from seeing his son succeed.
Interestingly, he said Jorge was never one to shower him with praise.
But his father’s opinion mattered.
“You were always the person you needed to be in every moment, and you were never wrong about anything.”
Messi described Jorge in three words that perhaps capture their relationship best:
“You were my dad, my friend and my agent.”
The football superstar also reflected on the life they shared away from the stadiums, saying they spoke every day and saw each other whenever his football commitments allowed.
Now, those conversations are gone. And Messi knows there is nothing he can do to bring them back.
“Why couldn’t you hold on just a little longer so we could finish it together?”
Despite the pain, Messi said his father’s presence will continue through the way he raises his own children.
He intends to pass down the same lessons and values his father gave him.
“You’ll always be present, especially in the way I raise my children, because I teach and raise them the way you raised me.”
Jorge Messi’s influence on his son’s career extended far beyond the football pitch. He helped guide the young Lionel Messi from Rosario to Barcelona and remained a central figure in his career and personal life.
Now, as Messi mourns the man who was beside him from childhood through the greatest moments of his career, the footballer has left one final message.
“Rest in peace and look after us from above, just as you did down here.
