Lionel Messi has turned a tribute to his late father into a public admission that his football future is uncertain. In words published by goal.com, the Lionel Messi said he is “really not sure” if he will keep doing it for much longer after the death of Jorge Messi aged 68 after a long illness.

Messi’s words and the grief behind them

The full message was painfully direct. Messi said, “I don't know what I'm going to do without you, I don't know how to go on. I only played football and now I have quite a few doubts about whether I'll keep doing it for much longer.” He also wrote: “You were by my side from the beginning; there was so little left until the end. Why couldn't you hold on that little bit more so we could finish together?”

That is not retirement talk in the usual polished, post-match sense. It reads like a player trying to process loss in public, and the doubt is real enough that it should be taken seriously. He has not said he is done, and the article should not be read that way. What he has said is that the thought of carrying on is no longer straightforward.

The football legacy Jorge Messi leaves behind

Jorge Messi had been Lionel’s agent since he was 14, so this is not just a family tribute. It is a reminder of how closely his father was tied to every stage of the career that followed, from the earliest steps toward Barcelona to the years that made him a global figure.

Messi’s emotional note also recalled how his father pushed him to play in the last World Cup and how he wanted to win it for him. The grief is personal, but the football history around it is part of why the message landed so hard.

The form has stayed strong even while the uncertainty has opened up. Messi has 8 goals and 4 assists in 8 appearances this year, with an 8.77 season rating. Across his last 5 World Cup matches, he averaged an 8.6 rating.

That level does not answer the bigger question on its own, but it does make one point hard to miss. The football is still there. The issue is whether Messi wants to keep carrying it for much longer.

Written by Sam Whitfield with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 3 outlets. How we work →