For Pablo Giralt, Messi’s retirement was never going to be just another headline. This was the end of the man he had spent years watching, narrating, and believing in. So when Argentina’s No. 10 finally said goodbye, Giralt tried to speak on live television, but nothing came out. The voice behind so many Messi memories simply broke down.
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On TNT Sports Argentina’s Pelota Parada, Giralt could barely keep it together as the panel talked about Messi’s Argentina career. When the conversation turned to him, he managed only, “What can I say? No, no, no,” before the emotion took over.
Giralt’s reaction made sense. He had spent years narrating Messi’s journey with Argentina, through the heartbreak, the criticism and finally the trophies. In 2022, he even broke down during an interview with Messi before the World Cup.
Now Messi was really done with Argentina, and Giralt could not hide what that goodbye meant to him.
Giralt later put it into words on X, retracing Messi’s Argentina journey from the lost finals to the Copa América titles and the World Cup triumph.
“Thank you for this dreamlike journey. Thank you for this wonderful ride,” Giralt wrote, before eventually admitting that the tears he was shedding were filled with “happiness and nostalgia.”
He ended with one line: “Thank you, Leo of my life.”
Giralt had never hidden what Messi meant to him. When he finally interviewed him in 2022, he called it a dream come true and said Messi was the player he had enjoyed watching and narrating more than anyone else.
That is why this goodbye hit him so hard.
Messi’s goodbye carried the same weight. At 39, after 207 games and 125 goals for Argentina, he confirmed that the national-team chapter was over following the 2026 World Cup final loss to Spain.
The death of his father, Jorge Messi, on August 8 only made that decision heavier. “Time is running short, chapters come to a close, and this is one that hurts me deeply,” Messi wrote, saying he had given everything he had to Argentina and had nothing left to give.
For Argentina, the numbers only tell part of the story…
Messi became Argentina’s most-capped player and all-time leading scorer, but the real story was what came after the pain. He lost finals, retired from international football in 2016, came back, then finally delivered the 2021 Copa América, another continental title in 2024, and the 2022 World Cup.
That World Cup ended Argentina’s 36-year wait and killed the biggest criticism Messi had carried for years. The country that once questioned whether he could do it for Argentina finally got the answer.
Giralt was there to narrate much of it.
Now, the commentator who helped give those memories a voice is left to process the end of Messi’s Argentina chapter just like millions of supporters.
Messi will continue his club career with Inter Miami, but his days wearing Argentina’s famous blue and white are now officially behind him.
And for Giralt, perhaps there was nothing left to say. The tears said enough.