Gian Piero Gasperini has refused to send his two Argentines across the Atlantic for sentiment. Paulo Dybala and Nahuel Molina will stay at Roma’s Trigoria training ground while Lionel Messi plays his 208th and final match for the national team against Benin at the Estadio Monumental on Tuesday.
“We’re too close to the Como game; sending them would have meant making them fly for hours right before the game, and the club preferred not to let them go,” Gasperini told Sky Sport on Monday.
Roma host Como on Sunday 11 October before facing Real Madrid in the Champions League. Buenos Aires is a long-haul round trip to squeeze into a six-day window.
The club had already explained the decision in a statement on 30 September, citing “sporting and logistical reasons, taking into account the length of the intercontinental journey and the proximity of the Club’s upcoming competitive fixtures”. Both players were part of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup-winning squad with Messi.
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The guests, not the squad
Neither player was ever going to be on the pitch. Molina is serving a seven-match international suspension for his part in the clashes after Argentina’s 2026 World Cup final defeat to Spain, and Dybala has not played for Argentina since 2024. Messi had invited the pair personally, as guests rather than team-mates.
Gasperini spoke warmly about Messi himself. He described the farewell as “emotional” and said he was “sorry to see his career with the Albiceleste come to an end”.
Scaloni’s Serie A contingent travels anyway
Several of Dybala’s and Molina’s Italian-league compatriots will be on the pitch regardless. Inter captain Lautaro Martinez, Argentine striker Santiago Castro, Como playmaker Nicolas Paz and Roma winger Matias Soule are all in Lionel Scaloni’s squad for the Benin match.
Soule’s inclusion sharpens the contrast at Trigoria. Roma released their Argentine winger because the national team called him up, but held back the two who were travelling only as Messi’s guests. Paz, whose Como side is the very opponent Gasperini is bracing for, flies the other way to help send Messi off.
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Kick-off at the Monumental is at 8pm local time on Tuesday 6 October.
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