Lionel Messi, the captain of Argentina, has scored his seventh international hat-trick in a friendly win against Curacao, bringing his international goal tally to 100. The landmark was reached when he opened the scoring on 20 minutes in Santiago del Estero, before adding two more before the break to complete a quickfire treble. Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez also scored, before Argentina paraded the World Cup trophy in front of more than 42,000 supporters.
Messi scored his 800th career goal, and 99th for Argentina, in a 2-0 win over Panama in Buenos Aires last week as part of the team’s World Cup homecoming tour. The Paris St-Germain striker reached three figures for his country when he took a pass from Villarreal’s on-loan Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Giovani lo Celso and fired a low shot into the bottom corner.
Three minutes later, Nicolas Gonzalez outjumped goalkeeper Eloy Room to head home from four yards before the Fiorentina winger set up Messi for his second of the night. Fernandez made it 4-0 with a shot from distance before Lo Celso released Messi to notch his third in just the 37th minute.
Angel di Maria and Gonzalo Montiel rounded off the scoring in the second half, but the night belonged to Messi, who extended his record as Argentina’s all-time record scorer – Gabriel Batistuta is a distant second on 56.
Messi remains third on the men’s all-time international scoring list behind Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (122) and Iran’s Ali Daei (109). His latest achievement is a testament to his incredible skill and talent, and it will undoubtedly serve as an inspiration to future generations of football players.
