Lionel Messi The Glorious Ten Argentina 2005-2026 Celebration Building Block Statue

His grandmother Celia was the one who took a very small Leo to his first training sessions in Rosario. She died before he ever pulled on an Argentina shirt, and the gesture became his way of telling her about each goal. Every time he looks up with both arms high, the moment belongs to her first and to the crowd second.

The Glorious Ten builds exactly that pose in bricks. Messi kneels on the rim of a stadium bowl in Argentina's sky-blue and white stripes, the captain's armband on his sleeve and the number 10 on his chest and shorts, both hands thrust upward with the index fingers extended. Floodlights rise at the corners, and a gold LM10 monogram with his signature sits on the box art behind him.

The finished statue beside its box, with the gold LM10 monogram behind.

The bowl beneath him recalls the night in the Monumental

The base is shaped like a stadium, rows of sky-blue and white seats curling around a strip of green pitch, and it is hard not to see 6 October 2026 in it. That evening Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires filled for his last match in the national team's colors. More than 85,000 tickets had gone in about ninety minutes, and his sons Thiago, Mateo and Ciro stood beside him for the anthem.

Argentina beat Benin 3-0 that night. Messi set up Nicolás Otamendi's header and a curling finish from Nico Paz, then converted a penalty in the 71st minute for his 126th international goal. Players from the 1978, 1986 and 2022 World Cup squads joined the tribute, and afterward he admitted, "I would love to keep coming back forever."

Final adjustments on the workbench, with the box waiting in the background.

Three trophies sit in the niches of the base

Under the pitch, three alcoves hold the silverware that turned a gifted generation into champions. Before 2021 Argentina had gone twenty-eight years without a senior title, and then three arrived in less than eighteen months.

Trophy	Date	Venue	Result
Copa América	10 July 2021	Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro	Argentina 1–0 Brazil, goal by Ángel Di María
Finalissima	1 June 2022	Wembley, London	Argentina 3–0 Italy
FIFA World Cup	18 December 2022	Lusail Stadium, Qatar	3–3 with France, won 4–2 on penalties

Twenty-one years separate the first evening from the last

The dates on the nameplate start in Budapest. On 17 August 2005, an eighteen-year-old Messi came on against Hungary for his debut and was sent off minutes later, a beginning so strange it now reads like the setup for everything that followed.

The ending came after his sixth World Cup, a record-tying number. In North America he scored eight goals and added four assists, lifting his World Cup total to 21, before Spain won the final 1-0 after extra time in New Jersey. He announced his international retirement weeks later and left with 208 caps and 126 goals.

A slow build suits a career that rewarded patience

Assembling this tribute a section at a time, stands first and raised arms last, feels right for a player whose greatest years came after long waits. Messi still plays for Inter Miami, but this piece marks the international career many fans watched from childhood, and it deserves a spot where it will be seen every day.

On a bookshelf or a desk it becomes a quiet conversation starter for anyone who remembers where they were during the shootout in Lusail. Keep our Messi farewell Topps Now card pack beside it, and the two cover the same goodbye from opposite ends of a collection.

At home on a bookshelf, between the books and a trailing plant.

Two fingers to the sky, three cups at his feet and the years 2005–2026 written underneath: the statue keeps the whole story in a single pose. Think of it as a thank-you note from the fans, built by hand.

Arms raised, fingers pointed skyward: the celebration that closed every chapter.

Written by Nadia Marsh, Collectibles Specialist at DoesignUs.