Lionel Messi is preparing to bring the curtain down on one of the greatest international careers of all time, with Argentina‘s friendly against Benin set to be his final appearance for his country. But his first couldn’t have gone much worse.

Back in August 2005, the then-18-year-old Barcelona prodigy came off the bench against Hungary in Budapest, only to be shown a straight red card barely two minutes later after reacting to being cynically pulled back.

What followed was quite the turnaround. Messi went on to become Argentina’s record goalscorer, win two Copa Americas and captain his country to World Cup glory, having also led them to two other finals.

Ahead of his impending farewell, we’ve revisited the players who featured alongside him on that unforgettable debut day.

At the time of the fixture with Hungary on away soil, Franco was in the early years of a five-year stint at club level with La Liga side Atletico Madrid.

This match was one of just four appearances the now 49-year-old registered for Argentina.

He retired in 2016 at Spanish second-tier outfit Huesca; a team Franco went on to manage in La Liga at the start of the 2018-19 season – their first season in the division in the club’s history.

But in October 2018, Franco was sacked after a turbulent opening to the campaign, and he’s yet to be offered another opportunity in the managerial hot seat.

Whatever happened to that guy?

Like Franco, Scaloni failed to establish a place in Argentina’s squad during his career, with only seven appearances to his name.

He retired in 2015 after playing for eight clubs in a 20-year career, including a loan spell at West Ham, where he gave away possession before Steven Gerrard’s iconic equaliser in the FA Cup final.

Fast forward to 2026 and he’s still the head coach of Argentina, arguably their greatest-ever manager, and appears set to extend his contract to guide them in the post-Messi era.

Ayala racked up 116 Argentina appearances before he retired from international duties in 2007. During that time, he captained his country a (former) record 63 times.

Although the centre-back played for AC Milan and Napoli, his most prominent club career days came in Spain with Valencia. He spent seven years under accomplished managers like Rafael Benitez and Claudio Ranieri.

The Argentina legend was brought back to the international fold by former team-mate Scaloni in 2019 as part of his technical staff, and he remains there to this day.

The former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender represented his country 73 times after making his debut in April 2003 in a friendly win against Libya.

Heinze’s most memorable achievement at club level, before he retired in 2014 at Newell’s Old Boys, was winning the 2006-07 Premier League title under Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford.

Heinze was manager of Atlanta United in the MLS until he was sacked in July 2021 following a 212-day tenure. He later had a short and unsuccessful spell in charge of boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys, and now serves as an assistant on Mikel Arteta’s coaching staff at Arsenal.

The full-back-turned-sports-broadcaster captained Argentina in the friendly with Hungary, and he went on to lead his country the following summer in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Sorin is a one-time Champions League winner with Juventus and was named in the South American Team of the Year three times (1996, 2000 and 2001).

He continues to work as a broadcaster to this day, and covered the last World Cup as a co-commentator for Mexican station Canal 5.

The former Porto and Marseille midfielder appeared 45 times for Argentina and scored seven goals.

For a while, we thought he might never retire, but he eventually hung up his boots in May 2020 at the age of 40, following a five-year stay in Brazil with Athletico Paranaense. He soon went into coaching and now serves as an assistant manager at former club Porto.

Zabaleta was a mainstay for the national team from 2005 until 2016. His trophy-laden stay at Manchester City earned him rightful recognition as one of the all-time great Premier League right-backs.

The 41-year-old has done some punditry work since hanging up his boots, and recently finished up a three-year stint as an assistant to his former City team-mate Sylvinho.

Bernardi was another player in the line-up on that afternoon in Hungary who appeared under 10 times for Argentina’s senior side.

The Rosario-born player’s best years came in his homeland with Newell’s Old Boys and he took up a role as Director of Football at the club in July 2021. He resigned in October 2021, however – a decision influenced by the election of a new club president.

Bernardi also managed Newell’s in 2016 and has recently returned to the dugout with a couple of short caretaker stints at the Estadio Marcelo Bielsa.

“He’s the player who most resembles me, the only one I enjoy watching,” the late, great Diego Maradona said about D’Alessandro.

The silky midfielder’s highlight of his international career was winning a gold medal at the 2004 Olympics. But he otherwise struggled to be the heir to Maradona’s throne, which many tipped him to develop into.

Let’s face it, if he was as good as El Diego, he’d not have ended up playing for Harry Redknapp at Portsmouth, would he?

The 41-year-old retired in 2021, but that did not last long. He came back in January 2022 to play for Brazilian side Internacional one last time, scoring on his return. He’s kept a low profile since finally retiring for good.

Santana is currently in charge of Italian amateur club Palermo Calcio Popolare.

Rodriguez netted one of his 12 international goals in Messi’s debut match, and he also played in three World Cups for Argentina in 2006, 2010 and 2014.

The 41-year-old retired at Newell’s Old Boys in 2021.

He arguably enjoyed his best playing years during a two-and-a-half-year spell with Liverpool – Rodriguez remains a Kop cult hero to this day.

Crespo netted 35 goals for Argentina and won 16 trophies in his career, including the Premier League title in Jose Mourinho’s dominant Chelsea side of the mid-2000s.

The legendary striker made a solid start to his managerial career, winning the Copa Sudamericana with Defensa y Justicia and the Campeonato Paulista with Sao Paulo in 2020 and 2021 before moving to Al-Duhail in Qatar.

But he’s ended up a bit of an unspectacular journeyman coach, rarely staying anywhere long, with two stints in the Middle East and two stints at Sao Paulo the most recent stops on his CV. Nowadays he’s in charge of Mexican outfit Atlas.

Lopez was already an established pro by 2005, having played – and scored – dozens of times for Racing in Argentina and earned a move to Porto.

Remarkably he kept going for another 19 years, chugging up and down the football pitches of the Argentinian Primera Division with Sarmiento through to his forties, finally retiring back in 2024.

Lopez played seven times for his country but only found the target once in a friendly triumph over Russia in 2009.

It was the nightmare start to an international career for his teenage replacement Messi. Things have gone slightly more smoothly for the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner since.

READ MORE: Remembering when an 18-year-old Messi terrorised Mourinho’s Chelsea

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every player that’s made 15+ World Cup appearances?