A special honor awaited Lionel Messi shortly before his final game in an Argentina national team jersey at Monumental. River Plate named the “Albiceleste” captain an honorary member of the club in a symbolic gesture that took place before his grand “farewell” from the national team.
Messi met with River’s president, Stefano Di Carlo, in the stadium’s presidential office. There, he received a special jersey commemorating the club’s 125th anniversary, featuring his name and the iconic “10,” a membership card, and a commemorative plaque certifying his induction as an honorary member. At the same time, the Argentina jersey he signed during his last game at Monumental will be displayed in the River Plate museum.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Messi’s connection to Monumental is special, as he played a large portion of his home matches with the national team there. In total, he played 29 times at that stadium with Argentina, remaining undefeated in all of those matches, a fact that adds even greater symbolic significance to his final game at that venue.
His history with River, however, had begun long before all of this. At a young age, before his path to Barcelona opened up, the Buenos Aires club had expressed interest in signing him and was willing to cover the cost of the treatment he needed at the time. The transfer didn’t go through, and his path eventually led him to Spain, but more than 20 years later, the circle closed in a special way, at the stadium most closely associated with his career on the Argentine national team.
𝐋𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐌𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢, 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐨 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐨
From River to the greatest soccer player in history
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Advertisement— River Plate (@RiverPlate) October 6, 2026
*photo source: AP
