Argentina’s perfect record since winning the FIFA World Cup 2022 continues on Tuesday with a 7-0 thrashing of Curacao. Lionel Messi scored a three trick and reached the century mark for his international goals.
Argentina, the current global champion, has won eight consecutive matches dating back to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. In its first post-World Cup match, a 2-0 victory against Panama, superstar striker and captain Lionel Messi scored his 99th international goal and 800th career goal to keep Argentina undefeated.
La Albiceleste faced Curacao on Tuesday, and won 7-0 thanks to a treble trick from Lionel Messi, who now has 100 goals for Argentina in international play. As a result, he is the Argentinian with the most international goals scored and the most international appearances played (173).
Messi has scored 100 goals for Argentina in international competition, making him only the third teenager in history to do so, behind Cristiano Ronaldo (122) and Ali Daei (109). The Argentine is also the only player in history to win a World Cup and score 100 goals for his country. Claudio Tapia, president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA), honoured him with a plaque.
Following the feat, Messi said to his Instagram account, “What a nice way to close these dates, impressive today all the people in Santiago del Estero. I wish we can continue to experience more moments like these and that this crazy never ends!!!
Coach Lionel Scaloni of Argentina was quoted as saying (via FotMob): “As for Lionel Messi, I want him to be on the pitch and be happy. These days were different to the previous friendlies because the players were allowed to be with their people. We felt they wanted to contact the outside, making preparation for these two games difficult, but in the end, we got them through by playing with intensity.”