"The Argentinians gave our players nothing. Not even a photo of Messi." That's Benin manager Gernot Rohr, speaking to French radio station RMC after what should have been a celebratory send-off for one of football's all-time greats turned into something considerably uglier behind the scenes.
Lionel Messi played his final international match on October 6, 2026, against Benin in Buenos Aires — a friendly staged specifically to mark his retirement from the Argentina shirt he wore to a World Cup title in Qatar and a second final on home soil in the USA. The occasion had ceremony. Benin's players gifted Messi a statue, a letter, and a rose before kick-off.
What came after kick-off is where things got complicated.
Locked out of the tunnel
Rohr claims Argentine Football Association security prevented Benin's players and staff from entering the dressing room area or even the tunnel once the match ended. No jersey exchange. No photos. No access to Messi whatsoever. The only memento Rohr himself walked away with was a 2018 signed Messi shirt — and he only got that after Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni personally intervened on his behalf.
Journalist Romain Molina went further, writing on social media: "No bonuses, not a single centime returned from the generated revenue, no jerseys exchanged, not one photo, and banned from entering the Argentine corridor. Everything goes to do business on the backs of those treated like mere props."
That's a pointed accusation. Benin flew to Buenos Aires, gifted Messi a statue, provided the opponent for a ticketed farewell event — and allegedly left with nothing financial to show for it.
Neither side has officially responded
The AFA has not commented. Benin's football board hasn't either. Which means Rohr's account is currently the only version on record, and it's a damaging one — not to Messi personally, but to the organisation that choreographed his exit.
Messi retired from international football with his legacy fully intact: a World Cup, two Copa América titles, and a record-breaking international career. Whatever happened in the corridors of that Buenos Aires stadium, that part doesn't change. But the AFA's handling of the occasion — if Rohr's version holds — is the kind of institutional pettiness that lingers long after the tributes are forgotten.
