“I think Leo Messi retired yesterday”

Pepe Brasín debuted a segment on La Tribu with a far-reaching reflection on Leo Messi. On a day marked by the announcement of the Argentine's farewell to international football, the journalist went straight to the heart of the matter and left a phrase that sums up the impact of the news: “It seems to me that Leo Messi retired yesterday”.

The explanation went beyond the formal nuance. Brasín pointed out that Messi will continue playing in MLS, but argued that his farewell to Argentina completely changes the general public’s relationship with his career: “ No one follows MLS in a general sense. MLS is a minor league, without any significance or importance, at least from my point of view” . That is why, for him, saying goodbye to the national team is almost a footballing full stop: “The reality is that yesterday Messi stopped being relevant to what the vast majority of football fans consume.”

“The best footballer of all time”

Brasín left no room for doubt when placing Messi in history. “He remains the best footballer of all time ,” he stated. And he defended that view not only from taste or aesthetics, but also from the data: “Even Wikipedia, the number of goals, the number of victories, the number of titles in the years he has been winning, seems totally indisputable to me.”

The journalist also recalled Messi's weight with Argentina: one World Cup, two Copa Américas, and five other finals. " For eight summer national team tournaments he has been with his national team all the way to the final. It's outrageous ," he explained. A dimension that, in his view, does not need too much perspective to understand the magnitude of what he leaves behind.

“Today is the first day of the post-Messi era”

The Argentine's farewell also opens up a new scenario for his national team. “ Today is the first day of the era without Messi” , Brasín pointed out, speaking of a period of uncertainty for Argentina. His argument was clear: for years, the team's competitive and emotional structure revolved around the ‘10’.

“The new Messi probably will never exist because that would mean being the best player of all time

“ Everything that can be glimpsed of Argentina, its current stars, its way of playing, the way it is organized, revolved around Messi ,” he analyzed. That is why, although he avoided making a definitive statement about the future, he did issue a warning: “I think a period of great uncertainty is coming for the Argentina national team.”

Qatar, the definitive moment

When it came to choosing the Messi moment, Brasín went with the World Cup in Qatar. More specifically, with the play against Josko Gvardiol that ended in Julián Álvarez’s goal. For him, that instant summed up the Argentine’s final greatness: “ The old Leo Messi, who was already arriving at that World Cup as if he had seen it all, still had the ability to take on the best players on the planet and decide a championship.”

Brasín qualified that he does not believe a World Cup by itself makes a career greater or smaller, but he did acknowledge its mythological weight. In Messi’s case, always compared with Maradona, that title was a decisive piece: “For Messi’s mythology, it was absolutely indispensable” .

Lamine and the impossible heir

The conversation ended by looking toward the future and toward Lamine Yamal, pointed to as a possible heir to the throne. Brasín was cautious: “ The new Messi probably will never exist because that would mean being the best player of all time” . Even so, he did leave the door open for Lamine to aspire to be the best on the planet.

“Why shouldn't it be Lamine Yamal?”, he asked himself. The debate remains open, although with an almost impossible bar. Messi leaves Argentina having become a myth, a world champion, and an unrepeatable figure. And football, starting today, begins to get used to living without him on the big international stage.