India, Sept. 1 -- The first time he announced retirement from international football, it lasted less than three months. If it feels way more real this time, it is because between those torment-riddled days from June 27 to September 1 in 2016 and now, Lionel Messi has won everything football has to offer, played more than double the number of international matches Diego Maradona did, on the way to equalling the achievements of the patron saint of Argentina's men's football team.

He is also 39 and had, before Monday's announcement, at least twice hinted that the end was near. The first was before the 2026 World Cup final, and then after his father Jorge died earlier this month, when he said, "My legs couldn't go on anymore."

And yet it wa...