Lionel Messi considers retiring after father's death: 'I don’t know how to carry on'
Lionel Messi is coming to terms with the possibility of stepping away from football as he continues to grieve the loss of his father, Jorge, who passed away earlier this month.
In an Instagram post, the Argentine footballer admitted that he still couldn't accept that his father is now gone. He said that his death still "hasn't sunk in" and that it's hard to imagine that his dad won't be around anymore.
While he knows his dad's suffering has ended, he felt sad, thinking that he "left too soon."
He shared that it was Jorge who kept encouraging him to play during the recent FIFA Club World Cup. However, just days before it was when his health began to decline.
"It was the first time you weren’t going to be there at a tournament, but Mom told me you would get better and that you would be well enough to travel. I told you that we were going to make it to the final so you could come," Messi said.
He said that every time a match ended, he would wait for and miss Jorge's message.
"That’s when I realized the situation was really serious. Even so, I kept thinking about going as far as possible, so I could give you enough time to recover and watch a game," he said.
"We reached the final, but you couldn’t be there. I wanted to win it so I could bring it home to you and show you a new trophy. I couldn’t. My legs had nothing left. This time, I tried to push beyond what my body could handle, but I couldn’t. I never managed to feel well," he continued, referring to how he and his team lost to Spain.
While they didn't become champions, Messi highlighted that they enjoyed every match.
"Once again, you were right: I had to be there and play it. I’m telling you this because it was the one thing we never got to talk about, because you already knew everything else," he said.
He went on to open up about how much his father's death affected him, to the point that he is considering retirement.
"I don't know what I'm going to do without you. I don't know how to move forward. I only ever played football, and now I have a lot of doubts about whether I'll continue doing it for much longer," Messi said.
"You were by my side from the very beginning, and there was so little time left until the end. Why couldn't you hold on just a little longer so we could finish this journey together?" he added.
Despite this, he ended his message on a hopeful note, describing Jorge as the "person you needed to be in every moment."
"I'm going to miss you so much, but you will always be present, especially in how I raise my children, because I teach and raise them the way you and Mom raised me," he said. "Rest in peace, and watch over us from above as you did here. Thank you for everything. I love you, Dad."
Jorge passed away on Aug. 8 at the age of 68 in a hospital in his hometown of Rosario. He has reportedly been battling an undisclosed illness for several months now, with his condition worsening in the week before Argentina's World Cup opener.
A former metal factory worker, Jorge was his son's first coach in Argentina and his sole companion when he first moved to Barcelona as a child, before later becoming his agent.
