Why would Lionel Messi retired from international football?

After Lionel Messi missed his penalty, therefore causing Argentina losing to Chile in the Copa America again, he decided to retire from international football. News that broke the hearts of many of his fans, especially those in Argentina, who have been imploring him to come back ever since.

There has been many claims by the media, suggesting that his decision was based on his tax fraud problems he and his father are facing back in Spain. That maybe the fact that he may possibly be facing a two years jail sentence and a total of £3millon between the two. However the Spanish law states that if a suspect had been guilty of tax fraud and it is his first offence, and was sentenced to two years in prison or less, then that person will only have to pay a fine and be subject to probation as decided by the judge....therefore it’s unlikely that Messi or his father Jorge, will face any time in prison.

Messi is not the only FC Barcelona player to have a problem with tax fraud in the recent years.  For instance a fellow Argentina player - Javier Mascherano who was the only one to eventually plead guilty to the two counts of tax frauds, and the Brazilian international player Neymar Jr were also fine by the courts in Spain due to tax fraud. To be more specific in Neymar’s case, Barcelona was accused of concealing the amount of money that was given to the football club where Neymar previously played, FC Santos. So in Neymar’s case, Barcelona were the ones to settle things in court and pay the £4.4million fine.

Neither of the above has stated that they would retire from international football, yet Messi has? It is still a mystery to many on why he has made such a harsh decision. Statements have been thrown around, that maybe Messi just  doesn’t like the fact that he is losing, since he continues to have a successful career, including winning the 2015 Ballon D’or for the 5^th time, and being the first and only player of all time to do so.

For now let’s hope that time will tell us why he retired from his nations team, after just missing one penalty? And for the sake of his fans and those people of Argentina, hope he does reconsider his retirement and comes back to play with his country.