Lionel Messi and Ronaldo
Lionel Messi has opened up about the death of his father, Jorge Messi, admitting that he does not know how to move forward without him and now has serious doubts about how much longer he wants to continue playing football.
Jorge Messi, 68, died on August 8 in Rosario, Argentina, after a prolonged illness. He was not only Messi’s father but also his longtime representative and one of the people who guided him throughout his rise from a young footballer in Rosario to a global star.
In an emotional message shared on social media, Messi said he is still struggling to accept that his father is gone.
“Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone,” Messi wrote, recalling the closeness they shared and the difficulty of imagining that they would never speak or see each other again.
Messi revealed that Jorge had repeatedly asked him to play in one last World Cup and that his condition took a turn for the worse just days before the tournament began.
The Argentine captain said he kept believing his father would recover enough to travel and watch him play. He even told Jorge that Argentina would make it to the final so he could be there.
Argentina made it to the final.
But Jorge could not be there.
Messi said that after every match, he found himself waiting for his father’s message, only to realise that it would no longer come. That was when, he said, he understood how serious his father’s condition had become.
He still pushed on, hoping to go as far as possible in the tournament and give Jorge more time to watch him play.
Messi also admitted that he wanted to win the World Cup so he could take the trophy home and show his father another one. But his body, he said, had nothing left.
The memories have now left Messi facing a much more personal question about what comes next.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I don’t know how to keep going,” he wrote, admitting that he now has serious doubts about whether he will continue playing football for much longer.
The revelation comes as Messi remains away from Inter Miami following his father’s death. He returned to Rosario as the family gathered to mourn Jorge, with his absence already felt by the club.
For Messi, the loss is not simply that of a parent.
He remembered how Jorge took him to training sessions after returning from work when he was a child and never missed a match. He described him as his father, friend and agent, someone who was there from the very beginning and remained involved throughout his career.
Messi also said Jorge’s influence would continue through the way he raises his own children, carrying forward the lessons he learned from his father and mother.
As Messi deals with the loss, one of football’s greatest rivals has also reached out.
Cristiano Ronaldo sent a message of support to Messi, putting years of competition aside to stand with the Argentine at a deeply painful moment.
“Sending you and your loved ones a huge hug in this difficult moment, Leo. Stay strong,” Ronaldo wrote.
The message adds another human layer to a relationship that has defined an era of football. For years, Messi and Ronaldo were placed against each other in one of the sport’s biggest rivalries. But in a moment of grief, the rivalry has given way to a simple message of solidarity.
For Messi, however, the immediate concern is much closer to home.
He has lost the man who stood beside him from the beginning, and for the first time, he is openly questioning what life in football looks like without his father by his side.
“Rest in peace and watch over us from above the way you did here,” Messi wrote.
“Thank you for everything.
“I love you, Dad.”
