Benin Furious Over Treatment at Messi's Farewell

Lionel Messi's emotional Argentina farewell has turned sour for Benin, with journalist Romain Molina claiming the visitors received no bonuses or revenue from the friendly, and coach Gernot Rohr insisting his players were denied shirts, photos and even access to the Argentine corridor.

From a fairytale send-off to an ugly fallout

Lionel Messi could not have scripted his Argentina farewell any better on the pitch. On Tuesday October 6, the 39-year-old captain produced one goal and two assists in a 3-0 friendly win over Benin at a sold-out Estadio Monumental, closed his 21-year international career in front of more than 85,000 supporters and cried through a night of tributes that stretched from Buenos Aires to his hometown of Rosario.

Days later, the story that dominates the conversation is no longer the magic. Benin's delegation has made its fury public: journalist Romain Molina alleged that the visitors were treated as background extras at their own match, denied bonuses, denied any share of the revenue the fixture generated and blocked from the Argentine corridor after the final whistle. Benin coach Gernot Rohr went further on French radio, insisting his players were refused the simplest souvenirs of the night: a photograph with Messi, a swapped shirt, even entry to the tunnel.

The allegations, which neither the Argentine Football Association nor the Beninese authorities have publicly addressed, have cast a shadow over what was meant to be a celebration of the greatest career in the national team's history. This is how the celebration turned into a controversy.

Messi's perfect night on the pitch

For 90 minutes, at least, everything went according to the plan the Monumental had come to see. Messi ran the show in what was dubbed Argentina's Last Tango: after a goalless first half, he curled in the corner from which Nicolas Otamendi headed home the opener in the 48th minute, then teed up Nico Paz for a superb curling second. Late on, Messi completed the fairytale himself, converting a penalty in the 71st minute for his 126th international goal.

The numbers on the night were staggering. Messi walked off with a goal and two assists in his record-extending 208th cap for Argentina, a career spanning 21 years since his debut in 2005. He leaves as his country's most-capped player and all-time leading scorer, an eight-time Ballon d'Or winner who carried Argentina to the 2021 and 2024 Copa America titles and the 2022 World Cup.

Otamendi, who shared 17 years and four World Cups with Messi in the national team, was also ending his own international career on the same night, heading home a goal created by the captain. At the final whistle, Messi's teammates lifted him onto their shoulders as the stadium rose for one last ovation, while a drone show above the Monumental displayed his image and thanked him for two decades in blue and white.

Molina's 'mere props' bombshell

The fallout began the day after the match, when French football journalist Romain Molina published a scathing post on X describing how Benin's delegation had been handled. Writing on October 7, Molina claimed that Benin received no bonuses for their participation and not a single centime of the revenue generated by the fixture, a friendly that drew more than 85,000 fans to the Monumental and a global television audience.

Molina also alleged that no shirts were exchanged between the sides, no photos were taken and Benin's players were banned from entering the Argentine corridor. Summing up his account, he wrote that everything was fair game for doing business on the backs of those treated as mere props, a line that has since been quoted across football media worldwide.

The claims struck a nerve partly because they followed visible signs of distance between the delegations all night. It is worth stressing that these are allegations made by Molina: as of the latest reports, neither the Argentine Football Association nor the Beninese football authorities have publicly responded to them.

Rohr: 'They gave us nothing'

Gernot Rohr, Benin's German head coach and a former manager of Nigeria, confirmed the coldest parts of the story himself in an interview on RMC Sport's Rothen s'enflamme programme. Rohr said his players tried everything after the final whistle and got nothing: no photo with Messi, no shirt swaps, and no way into the tunnel or the Argentine dressing room.

According to the 73-year-old, stadium security turned Benin's players away as they arrived with their shirts ready to swap, convinced the occasion would earn them at least one keepsake from the final match of the greatest player they had ever faced. His verdict on the night was blunt: the Argentines gave his team nothing.

Rohr did reveal one small exception, and it underlined how little the delegation took home. Before kick-off he had handed a Messi shirt from the 2018 era to Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni, who got it signed by the captain and returned it to him. That, Rohr said, was all Benin brought back from Buenos Aires. He also disclosed that the delegation had offered Messi a bouquet in Benin's yellow, red and green colours, but could not get close enough to present it.

A troubled trip from the start

The post-match treatment claims did not arrive in a vacuum. Benin's trip to Argentina was already a source of grievance before a ball was kicked, and the earlier reports help explain why the delegation's anger ran so deep by the time Molina's post appeared.

• Benin's delegation endured a journey of around 25 hours to reach Buenos Aires for the friendly.
• There were complaints about problems at the team hotel, including a lack of hot water on one floor.
• Before the match, Benin's camp had already dealt with disruptions that drew attention in Argentina's media.

Against that backdrop, being shut out of the post-match formalities felt to Benin's camp like the final insult of a trip that had gone wrong from the first leg of the flight. It also explains why Rohr chose to air his frustration publicly rather than let the night fade quietly into the history books.

The night the Monumental cried with Messi

None of this changes what the night meant to Argentina, and it is worth recording how Buenos Aires said goodbye. Hours before kick-off, a massive No. 10 shirt emblazoned with the word Gracias was unfurled at the National Flag Memorial in Rosario, Messi's hometown. Landmarks across the capital glowed in sky blue and white, fireworks lit the skies above the Monumental and the national anthem was sung with an intensity usually reserved for finals.

As the team bus travelled from the training centre that bears Messi's name, the captain wiped away tears while thousands lined the route. He walked onto the pitch with his three children, while his wife Antonela Roccuzzo and his mother Celia Cuccittini watched from a VIP box alongside Argentina's World Cup winners of 1978, 1986 and 2022. When the teams took the pitch, Benin's captain presented Messi with a statue-like trophy and a letter during the pre-match handshake, a genuine tribute from the visitors before the controversy began.

After the match, an emotional Messi addressed the crowd with his family beside him. He spoke about the recent death of his father, the first thing on his mind all night, and told the supporters that wearing the shirt for more than 20 years had been a huge source of pride. Not coming anymore, he said, was going to hurt a lot, because playing for Argentina was the most beautiful thing that could happen to him. Cristiano Ronaldo also weighed in from afar, hailing Messi with a message of respect after his international retirement.

What happens next

The silence from the Argentine Football Association is now the loudest part of the story. With Molina's allegations circulating widely and Rohr's radio interview quoted across several continents, the AFA faces a simple question: was Benin really denied bonuses, revenue, shirts, photos and access, or was the lockdown a byproduct of the extraordinary security around Messi's farewell? Until the federation or the Beninese authorities speak publicly, the claims remain exactly that: claims, but claims with real momentum.

For Benin, the episode is an unhappy end to a historic invitation. They were the chosen opponents for one of football's great farewells, and their captain's pre-match tribute to Messi was one of the most dignified moments of the night. Yet the delegation returned home with a single signed shirt and a long list of grievances, from a 25-hour journey to a corridor they were never allowed to enter.

For Argentina, the page turns. The farewell is over, the post-Messi era has begun, and the next qualifiers and friendlies will reveal how the world champions cope without their captain. Messi himself has a new chapter waiting with Inter Miami, where he has already resumed club duties. The controversy will not change the scoreline or the farewell's emotional power, but it has given football a bitter postscript to what was supposed to be a perfect goodbye.

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