The legend Lionel Messi is about to play his final official match for Argentina in the capital Buenos Aires. Local publication DSports predicts that after the home match against Venezuela on September 4th - the world champion will no longer have official commitments with the "gauchos" in the capital.

Now there are two final world qualifiers in South America, and then Leo and company will prepare with friendlies for the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada.

Argentina, Ecuador and Brazil have already guaranteed their place in the world finals, while Uruguay and Paraguay are closing in with 24 points each and only a huge failure would deprive them of participation in less than a year.

Lionel Messi has made 193 appearances for Argentina since making his debut for the national team in 2005. He has scored 112 goals and provided 61 assists so far.

Here is the Argentina squad for the matches against Venezuela (home on September 4) and Ecuador (away on September 9):

GOALKEEPERS: Emiliano Martinez (Aston Villa), Walter Benitez (Crystal Palace), Jeronimo Rui (Olympique Marseille)

DEFENDERS: Cristian Romero (Tottenham), Nicolas Otamendi (Benfica), Nauel Molina (Atlético Madrid), Gonzalo Montiel (River Plate), Leonardo Balerdi (Olympique Marseille), Juan Foyt (Villarreal), Nicolas Tagliafico (Lyon), Marcos Acuna (River Plate), Julio Soler (Bournemouth), Facundo Medina (Olympique Marseille)

MIDFIELDERS: Alexis McAllister (Liverpool), Exequiel Palacios (Bayer Leverkusen), Alan Varela (Porto), Leandro Paredes (Boca), Thiago Almada (Atlético Madrid), Nicole Paz (Como), Rodrigo De Paul (Inter Miami), Giovani Lo Celso (Betis), Claudio Echeverri (Manchester City), Franco Mastantuono (Real Madrid), Valentin Carboni (Genoa). |BGNES