Messi questions football future as he pens emotional tribute to late father

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/messi-lionel/vgOOdZbd/"]Messi[/a]'s father, Jorge, died last week aged 68 at a medical clinic in the Argentine city of Rosario after a ‌long illness.[/p][p][b]"I don't know what I'm going to do without you. I don't know how ‌to move forward. I only played football, and now I have ‌quite a few doubts about whether I'm going to keep doing it for much ‌longer," Messi wrote in a tribute on Instagram.[/b][/p][p][b]"You were by my ‌side from the beginning; there was so little left until the end. Why couldn't you hold on just a little longer so we could finish it together?"[/b][/p][p]Jorge closely accompanied ‌his son Lionel throughout his career, beginning with his ⁠early years at [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/barcelona/SKbpVP5K/"]Barcelona[/a]. He acted ‌as a crucial pillar of support and, for several years, served as his ​representative.[/p][p]The 39-year-old Argentina captain revealed one of the reasons he played in the World Cup, where they finished runners-up to Spain after ​an extra-time loss in the final, was because it was his father's wish.[/p][p][b]"You always asked me to play in the last World Cup and a ⁠few days before it ​started was when you got worse," Messi said.[/b][/p][p][b]"It was the first time you weren't going to be at a tournament... Every time a match ended, I would wait and hope for your message. That's when I realised how real ‌the situation was."[/b][/p][embed guid="74171359-f885-45b0-b396-ff28b86ff3cc" url="https://www.instagram.com/leomessi/p/Db8MYnQjYsC/?hl=en" social-type="instagram" /][p]During the World Cup, the Argentine captain experienced mixed emotions after scoring a hat-trick in the opening match against Algeria, breaking down in tears while celebrating his first goal.[/p][p]He later explained that his tears were due to "something unrelated to football" after going through "a few difficult, complicated days."[/p][p]Messi said he wanted to win the final for his father but he had no energy left to bring home a second World Cup title.[/p][p][b]"My legs couldn't go on anymore. This time I tried to push myself beyond ‌my physical limits, but I couldn't. I never felt well... We weren't champions, ​but you don't know how much we enjoyed every match. Once ‌again, you were right: I had to be there and play it," Messi added.[/b][/p][p]Despite his grief, the [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/inter-miami/0AheRyBg/"]Inter Miami[/a] forward pledged to honour his father's memory through parenting his own children.[/p][p][b]"I'm going to miss you so much, but you will always be present, especially in the ⁠upbringing of my children, because I ⁠will teach them and raise ‌them the way you raised me," he said.[/b][/p]