Lionel Messi: What did Enzo Fernandez write to Argentina star in 2016? | OneFootball

Lionel Messi must be over the moon that he never stuck to his 2016 declaration that he would be retiring from international football.

In the wake of a third final defeat in as many years, Messi announced that it was the end of the road with Argentina by saying: “For me, the national team is over. I’ve done all I can. It hurts not to be a champion.”

“It’s been four finals, I tried,” Messi added. “It was the thing I wanted the most, but I couldn’t get it, so I think it’s over. I think this is best for everyone. First of all for me, then for everyone.

“I think there’s a lot of people who want this, who obviously are not satisfied, as we are not satisfied reaching a final and not winning it.

“It’s very hard, but the decision is taken. Now I will not try more and there will be no going back.”

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Only, that simply wasn’t the case, because Messi reversed his decision just a few months later and with 2021 Copa America and 2022 World Cup glory to come, it proved to be arguably the best move of his entire career.

Messi might have suffered heartbreaking defeats in the 2007, 2015 and 2016 Copa America finals, as well as in the 2014 World Cup climax, but deciding to stay on with Argentina ultimately ensured that those trophies landed in his hands eventually.

And there can be no denying that the outpour of support for Messi to reverse his international retirement played a massive role in his eventual move to do exactly that.

What did Fernandez write to Messi in 2016?

However, of all the campaigning for Messi to pull on the famous blue and white jersey once again, there were few pleas more moving than that penned by none other than Enzo Fernandez.

A current teammate of Messi and the 2022 Word Cup Young Player of the Tournament no less, Fernandez penned an open letter trying to persuade his hero when he was merely a teenager.

The existence of the letter has been acknowledged by FIFA and according to the Mirror, it reads: “How are we going to convince you? If we are disastrous. How are we going to convince you? We never had 1 per cent of the pressure that you have on your shoulders.

“You wake up in the morning, you look in the mirror and you know that a crowd of over 40 million people wants you to do the perfect thing and it has been ridiculously imposed that they can demand it.

“How are we going to convince you? If we fail to understand that you are a human being, a person with incomparable talent, the best player on the planet, but a person after all.

“How are we going to convince you? If we don’t stop for a moment to realize that you are not responsible for the anger that losing causes us, which often has more to do with our own frustrations that are reflected there.

“Let’s look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we demand from ourselves 1 per cent of what we demand from this guy we don’t even know.

“Do what you want, Lionel, but please think about staying. Stay and have fun… in a world of ridiculous pressures, they manage to get the most noble thing out of the game, the fun.

“Seeing you play with the light blue and white is the greatest pride in the world. Play for fun, because when you’re having fun, you have no idea how much fun we have. Thank you and forgive us.”

What a touching, heartfelt, mature and articulate letter from a then 15-year-old. Superb stuff.

And do you know what? Fernandez was exactly right, because it really did feel as though Messi started playing with more freedom and joy with Argentina post-2016, alleviating himself of all the crushing pressure and letting what will be, be.

To think that Fernandez himself would then go on to become a key part of Messi eventually realising his biggest dream of all just makes the situation even more of a fairy tale. Football isn’t half a wonderful, wonderful thing.

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