Lionel Messi will say goodbye to the Argentina national team on Tuesday, October 6, in a farewell friendly against Benin at the Monumental in Buenos Aires, closing a 21-year international career.
His departure leaves much more than a gap in attack: Messi has worn the captain’s armband since 2011, through the Copa América titles, the Finalissima, and the 2022 and 2026 World Cups, so Argentina needs a new leader to take it from here.
That leader is Cristian “Cuti” Romero. Coach Lionel Scaloni confirmed in late September that the 28-year-old Atlético Madrid defender will inherit the armband once Messi plays his last match, ending the speculation over who would take on one of the most demanding roles in world soccer.
Scaloni explained the choice with a simple argument: Romero was already Argentina’s third captain, behind Messi and Nicolás Otamendi, who also retired from international duty after the World Cup.
Cristian Romero celebrates after scoring against Bolivia, wearing the captain’s armband. (Getty Images)
“Cuti is the right one,” he said. The coach also named Emiliano Martínez, Rodrigo De Paul and Lautaro Martínez as players who can wear the armband when needed, a sign that the leadership group is being rebuilt around the core of the 2022 champions.
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Romero was not new to the role. He had captained Argentina three times before the announcement: in a 1-0 win over Chile in 2025 World Cup qualifying, in a friendly against Venezuela that October, and in a 2-1 win over Mauritania before the 2026 World Cup. His first match as the official captain came against Bolivia in Cordoba, his hometown, where Argentina won 4-0 and Romero scored the third goal with a header.
The defender who became a leader
Romero said that coming back to the stadium where he began his career with Belgrano ten years ago, now wearing the armband, was something he never imagined, and that he feels ready for the responsibility.
He has made 59 appearances for Argentina and scored five goals, all with his head, which makes him a constant threat from set pieces. He was part of the teams that won the 2021 Copa América, the 2022 Finalissima, the 2022 World Cup and the 2024 Copa América.
After starting his career at Belgrano, Romero moved to Italy, where he played for Genoa and Atalanta. In 2021 he joined Tottenham, where he established himself as a leader of the team, and this season he moved to Atlético Madrid for a reported 40 million euros, at the explicit request of Diego Simeone.
On Tuesday, Messi will play his last match as Argentina’s captain, and he is set to formally hand the armband to Romero in front of almost 90,000 fans at the Monumental. Romero has said no one will replace Messi, but that the team has to move forward and take Argentina back to the top, with the first chapter of the post-Messi era already under way.
