"I felt like an ignoramus." That's Lionel Messi — eight goals in six games at the World Cup 2026, the tournament's top scorer, a man playing what is almost certainly his final World Cup — admitting that one of his biggest regrets in life is never learning English.
An old interview clip resurfaced this week on X, and given the timing — Argentina vs England, semifinal, Atlanta, July 15 — the timing couldn't be sharper. Messi told interviewers he repeatedly encouraged his children to prioritise their education and learn languages, something he never did despite having the opportunity.
"I regret a lot of things, and today I say it to my children. To have a good education, to study, to be prepared. Not having learned English as a child. I've had time to study even English, and I didn't. And I regret it a lot, because then I saw situations where I had incredible personalities to talk to. I had a talk, and I felt like an ignoramus," he said.
A career spent in Spanish-speaking worlds
It makes sense when you trace the geography of his career. Messi left Argentina at 13 for Barcelona's La Masia academy, spent 17 seasons at the club, had a brief unhappy stint in Paris, and then returned to South America before eventually landing at Inter Miami in MLS — where, for the first time, English became a professional reality rather than an abstract aspiration.
He never needed it. That's the honest answer. Barcelona operated in Spanish and Catalan. The Argentina dressing room speaks Spanish. The language barrier was always someone else's problem to solve around him.
Now at 39, playing in the United States, it's clearly been on his mind.
What it means heading into Wednesday
The semifinal context adds an obvious layer. Argentina versus England carries its own historical weight — 1986, the Hand of God, decades of pointed rivalry — and here is Messi, the man at the centre of Wednesday's match, reflecting on the fact he can't hold a conversation in the language of the opponent he's about to face.
On the pitch, the language barrier is irrelevant. Eight goals, including a hat-trick against Algeria and a brace against Australia that took him past Miroslav Klose as the World Cup's all-time leading scorer. He became the first player to score 20 World Cup goals in a single tournament run, and now sits at 21 heading into the semi.
- Argentina 3-0 Algeria (Messi hat-trick)
- Argentina vs Australia (Messi brace, surpasses Klose)
- Argentina 3-0 Jordan (Messi goal)
- Argentina 3-2 Cape Verde (Messi goal, reaches 20 World Cup goals)
- Argentina vs Egypt (Messi equaliser, 21 total)
- Argentina 3-1 Switzerland (no goal — first blank in nine matches)
He went scoreless against Switzerland in the quarterfinal for the first time in nine matches. England's defensive odds probably improved a fraction when that stat landed. Probably.
"I said, of course, I wasted my time. But it's true that football is a way of life. It teaches you a lot, it gives you a lot of value." Fair enough. Twenty-one World Cup goals tends to soften the blow of a missed language lesson.
