Teammates and fans bid emotional farewell to Messi ahead of Argentina finale

MEXICO CITY: From former and current team mates to tearful fans outside the Monumental stadium, tributes poured in for Argentine great Lionel Messi on Tuesday as the country prepared to bid farewell to their captain in his final international appearance.

Brazil's Neymar, Messi's former Barcelona and Paris St Germain teammate and longtime friend, said the whole world should be grateful for what the Argentine had given the sport.

"It's not only Argentina that thanks you, the world thanks you for everything you have done for football," Neymar wrote on Instagram, hours before Messi was due to play his 208th and final game for Argentina against Benin.

"Thank you for making me love football even more. It was an honour for me to have played against you and even more so to make history alongside you."

For Rodrigo De Paul, Messi's close friend and Argentina team mate who also plays alongside him at Inter Miami, the impact went far beyond football.

"He made me grow not only as a footballer, but also as a person. I became a better person, a better human being, a better athlete, a better father and a better friend," De Paul said in a farewell message released on Tuesday.

"I want to tell him that I love him. He knows that he is my brother and that he has an enormous heart."

Former Argentina teammate Angel Di Maria said it was a day nobody had wanted to come.

"Seeing him with so much happiness, and that tranquillity of knowing that he gave everything he had, is what makes us all happy," Di Maria said. "It will be a very special day for everyone. I thank him for life."

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Fans say goodbye

In Buenos Aires, fans flocking to the Monumental stadium for the Argentina v Benin friendly expressed a mixture of gratitude and sadness.

"I cried because I was able to come and see Messi in his last game, and also because of the sadness of knowing that he won't be here anymore," 19-year-old Jose Garracedo told Reuters TV.

"He fought for this shirt ... everything that was demanded of him. He knew how to stay the course, enjoy it and keep saying that he was going to fight for this."

For Isaias Zenas, a 27-year-old medical student, Messi's importance extended beyond football.

"The last joys we have had as an Argentine people, we owe to him," he said. "All the cups he brought us, with the country in a bad economic situation, people who are struggling have their refuge in football. How could we not come here at this moment to say goodbye to him?"

Messi, who helped Argentina win the World Cup and two Copa America titles, enters the game with a national-record 125 goals and 68 assists for his country.

Before the final goodbye, he offered a simple message of his own.