Messi retires from international football

[gavin]

A shame he's never reached the heights in international football given his prodigious talent. I wonder why he has never been able to inspire Argentina like Barcelona. It seems to me that they have had better players around him than Maradona had too.

[Swiss]

I remember Tevez saying he wasn't 'well liked' by the Argies because he was from the rich side of town.

Seen speculation about Kun as well

[Rowley Birkin QC]

I recall reading something years ago that claimed that because Messi has been at Barcelona most of his life (since his early teens) and his family has recent Spanish and Italian ancestry, he is seen as more European than Argentinian by some in his country of birth. I've no idea what the truth of that is though.