Argentina’s captain Lionel Messi was left in tears after his team suffered a 1-0 loss against Spain at MetLife Stadium, New York on Sunday. Messi’s future is also unclear after the heartbreaking loss in the summit clash.

The talisman once again led his team from the front, with eight goals in as many games and also provided four assists in the competition. However, Messi was kept at bay by the Spanish defenders in the all-important clash of the tournament.

Messi had won his maiden World Cup title four years ago in Qatar but could not go all the way in 2026 despite being so close. Argentina had also ended as the runners-up in 2014 when they suffered a 1-0 loss against Germany.

Meanwhile, Ferran Torres scored for La Roja in the 106th minute to help his country bag their second World Cup title.

“I hope that everyone feels proud of him, of what he’s achieved because he’s the best football player ever stepping foot on a pitch,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said.

Torres admitted that Messi’s presence made them a bit nervous but they backed their style and came up with a collective effort.

“When you have Messi on the other side, well, you are nervous,” Torres said. “At the end of the day, we always depended on us. We always come up with our football, and we showed it again.”

This could well be Messi’s last appearance at the World Cup stage and he has scored a total of 21 goals in the tournament, second best to Kylian Mbappe, who has 22 goals to his name.

Messi became the first player to start three World Cup finals and raised his international goals total to 125, second only to Cristiano Ronaldo’s 146.

Spain’s head coach Luis de la Fuente revealed that first idea was to keep Lionel Messi at bay.

“The first idea was to keep Messi at bay,” Spain coach Luis de la Fuente said.