'There is nothing left': Lionel Messi drops retirement hint

Lionel Messi has seemingly dropped a subtle hint bout retirement. At the same time, the World Cup winner has not given a date or time for his retirement but has now admitted that "there's nothing left" for him in the game.

Messi, a winner of multiple Ballon d'Or awards, has also won the UEFA Champions League and domestic league titles and cups. The only trophy missing from his bucket list before last year was the World Cup, but now he has that in his cabinet.

Stating that he has achieved everything there was to be achieved with the national team, the 35-year-old Argentine superstar said, "It's at the end of my career, closing a cycle."

"I achieved everything with the national team I always dreamed. I got everything in my career, individually. It was about uniquely closing my career. I never imagined that all this would happen to me when I started, and getting to this moment was the best. I have no complaints, and I can't ask for more. We won the Copa America [in 2021] and the World Cup; there's nothing left," he said in an interview with UrbanaPlay.

"I would have liked Diego to give me the cup, or at least to see all this, to see Argentina as world champions, with everything he wanted and how he loved the national team. I think from above, he – like many people who love me – was strong," he said.

Incidentally, Messi had shocked the world when he announced his retirement from international football after Argentina's defeat to Chile in the final of the Copa America Centenario in 2016.

Lionel Messi scored for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Wednesday as they beat Montpellier 3-1 and moved five points clear at the top of the French league.

It was Lionel Messi's 697th goal in top five European leagues, surpassing the record of Cristiano Ronaldo. He achieved it in 84 less games than the Portuguese star.