Ten days after losing a key piece of his life, Leo Messi has broken his silence. The Argentine soccer star, one of the greatest of all time and the recent winner of the Princess of Asturias Award for Sports, has found the strength to say goodbye to his father, who died on August 2 at the age of 68 after a long illness that had kept him in a hospital in Rosario.
Jorge Messi played a fundamental role in his son’s personal and professional life, and Leo has opened up about his feelings like never before in a letter. In it, he talks about the relationship they had, the difficult time he went through at the World Cup while his father was hospitalized, and his future, even putting the word retirement on the table.
© IG: Leo MessiThe full message from Leo Messi after losing his father
(Translated from his post in Spanish)
Dad, I still can’t believe you’re gone. It hasn’t sunk in, or rather, I don’t want it to sink in. It’s so hard to imagine that I’m not going to see you anymore, that we’re not going to talk anymore. I know you were suffering and that this is for the best, but you left too soon. We still had so much left to enjoy together. You kept asking me to play in the last World Cup and days before it started was when you got worse. It was the first time you weren’t going to be at a tournament, but Mom kept telling me you were going to get better and that you’d be well enough to travel. I told you we were going to make it to the final so you’d be able to come.
Every time a match ended I waited for and missed your message. That’s when I realized how truly bad things were. Even so, I couldn’t stop thinking about going as far as possible, to buy you time so you could watch a game. We made it to the final and you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it so I could bring the trophy to you and show you a new one. I couldn’t do it, my legs just couldn’t go anymore. This time I tried to push past my body, but I couldn’t. I never once felt good.
When I got back you thought we had lost the final on penalties. We couldn’t talk about anything that had happened. You didn’t get to enjoy any of it. We weren’t champions, but you have no idea how much we enjoyed every game. Once again, you were right: I had to be there and play it. I’m telling you this because it’s the only thing we didn’t get to talk about, because you already know everything else. We talked every day and saw each other whenever we could between my commitments.
I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, I don’t know how to go on. All I’ve ever done is play soccer, and now I have serious doubts about whether I’ll keep doing it for much longer. You were by my side from the very beginning, there was so little time left until the end. Why couldn’t you hold on just a little longer so we could finish this together?
© IG: Leo MessiI know your happiness was seeing your family doing well, your wife, your children and, above all, without the others finding out, watching me play... It was like that ever since I was a kid. You took me to every training session as soon as you got home from work. Mom took me to a lot of them too because you were working. But you obviously never missed a single match. How much you suffered watching me and how much you enjoyed it, even though you never gave me many compliments.
You were a dad, a friend and an agent. You were always exactly who you needed to be at every moment and you never got anything wrong. Beyond a few reproaches or arguments, you were always right. In the end, things always turned out the way you said they would.
I’m going to miss you so much, but you’ll always be with me, and especially in the way I raise my kids, because I teach and bring them up the way you and Mom did with me. Rest in peace and watch over us from above the way you did down here. Thank you for everything. I love you, Dad.”
© Getty ImagesThe soccer world unites to support Messi
In these incredibly difficult days, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner is leaning on his inner circle. His wife, Antonela Roccuzzo, has been a major source of strength, and he also finds reasons to move forward in his three children, Thiago, Mateo and Ciro.
The soccer world has also come together to wrap him in support during his most painful days, showing that off the field there are no rivalries or team colors. From Real Madrid to Inter Miami, and stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferran Torres, David Beckham and Andrés Iniesta, everyone has united to lift him up, along with fans from all over the world who are sending their condolences.
“I want to sincerely thank you all for the affection, respect and enormous consideration you’ve shown me and my family at this very painful time after my dad’s passing. Thank you for being there for us, for every message, every gesture and, above all, for respecting our pain and our privacy,” said Messi, who said his final goodbye to his father at a tightly guarded burial in the Parque El Prado cemetery, located in Pérez, a town near Rosario.
