'None can replace Messi': ESPN FC asks who leads Argentina after Bolivia
A 4-0 win was the starting point, but the panel and the comment section spent their time on the question Argentina keeps returning to, with Nico Paz the name viewers mention most.
ESPN UKStory of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 65,577 views a day, 10 times a normal first day on this channel (6,449).
‘NONE CAN REPLACE MESSI!’ 🇦🇷 Which Argentina player will STEP UP when Messi retires? 🤔 | ESPN FC
Messi talk still travels. The ESPN FC panel's reaction to Argentina's 4-0 win over Bolivia went up on ESPN UK and was close to 60,000 views within 19 hours, roughly ten times what a new video on the channel usually gathers in a full first day.
This is the Futbol Americas crew: host Mauricio Pedroza with former United States striker Herculez Gomez and former Trinidad and Tobago goalkeeper Shaka Hislop. A comfortable win might have been the whole conversation. Instead, the title points it at the question that follows Argentina everywhere: when Lionel Messi finally stops, who carries the side? The title's answer, in capitals, is that nobody can.
The comment section mostly accepts that premise and then argues around it. The most liked replies say the team will cope but the player cannot be replaced, and several suggest building a system rather than searching for a new Messi. Nico Paz is the young name that comes up most. One viewer wishes he had been given minutes alongside Messi, another urges him simply to be himself. A few reach back to Maradona and point out that Argentina has already found a successor to the unrepeatable once.
The theme ran through ESPN UK's day, with a short titled "'It's POINTLESS trying to be the NEW Lionel Messi!'" posted beside the full discussion. Two other ESPN FC debates also started far ahead of the channel's usual pace: Frank Leboeuf praising Michael Olise after France's 1-1 draw with Italy, and Jan Aage Fjortoft wondering whether a severe punishment for Manchester City would end up hurting the Premier League itself.
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What viewers say
The team will do good, but no one in this world will replace Messi.
@J.D.Leo7See it on YouTubeArgentina has great upcoming talents,we don't need to replace him,we need to build a system
@MarcusDobson-m4iSee it on YouTubeNo other nation could have replaced Maradona. Argentina did... with Messi.
@eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeexSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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- Channel
- ESPN UK
- Subscribers
- 1,600,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 8,402,514
- Channel views, pace per day
- 2,704,784 (on a normal day: 1,041,960)
- Video published
- October 2, 2026
- Video views so far
- 59,420 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 65,577
The numbers
The Argentina discussion led a busy day for ESPN UK, with several new ESPN FC videos well ahead of how the channel's uploads usually start.
💡 Test your knowledge
Who scored the only goal of the 2021 Copa América final, Argentina's 1-0 win over Brazil at the Maracanã?
Di María lobbed the goalkeeper in the first half, and that goal gave Argentina its first major senior title since 1993.
