Lionel Messi’s shocking tournament record with Argentina

A look at Lionel Messi’s tournament record with Argentina after the little genius decided to retire from international football.

The five times FIFA player of the year, said his international career with Argentina was over after the Copa America penalty loss to Chile.

Argentina have not won a major senior title since the 1993 Copa America and Messi’s main international successes are remain the gold he won at the 2008 Olympics and victory in the 2005 FIFA Under-20s World Cup.

2006 World Cup (quarter-finals)
Messi was the youngest scorer, netting in the 6-0 defeat of Serbia and Montenegro, but did not play in the quarter-final penalty shoot-out loss to hosts Germany.

2007 Copa America (runners-up)
Argentina reached the final in Venezuela, but were beaten 3-0 by Brazil, with Messi’s youth making him exempt from the criticism aimed at some of his team-mates.

2010 World Cup (quarter-finals)
A 4-0 last-eight loss to Germany ended Argentina’s participation in the tournament in South Africa, where they were coached by Diego Maradona, but Messi was acknowledged as one of the competition’s best players.

2011 Copa America (quarter-finals)
Hosts Argentina lost 5-4 on penalties in the quarter-finals to eventual champions Uruguay. Messi converted his spot-kick after a 1-1 draw.

2014 World Cup (runners-up)
Messi was named player of the tournament, controversially in some people’s eyes, as Germany proved too good for Argentina once again, winning with Mario Gotze’s extra-time strike.

2015 Copa America (runners-up)
Argentina edged past Colombia on penalties, before the final with hosts Chile was decided on spot-kicks. Messi was the only Argentinian to score.

2016 Copa America (runners-up)
For the second successive year, Chile won the final with a penalty shoot-out victory over Argentina in the centenary tournament in the United States. This time, Messi missed his spot-kick and then quit.

Messi’s career in numbers

113 – caps for Argentina.
55 – goals for Argentina. His five goals in the 2016 Copa America saw him pass Gabriel Batistuta as his nation’s all-time leading scorer.
170 – Messi’s height in centimetres (5ft 6in).
72 – Messi’s weight in kilograms (11st 5lbs).
47 – seconds into his Argentina debut before he was sent off, against Hungary in 2005, aged 18, after coming on as a substitute.
2008 – Olympic gold in Beijing is Messi’s only major international honour.
453 – goals for Barcelona, in 531 games, including a Primera Division record of 312 goals.
8 – Primera Division titles with Barcelona.
4 – Champions League wins with Barca.
5 – times he has won the FIFA Ballon d’Or, as the world’s best player (in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015).
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