Argentina: Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick to surpass 100 goals in international matches in Tuesday’s (28th March 2023) crushing 7-0 victory over Curaçao.

In Santiago del Estero, the 35-year-old Messi scored his historic 100th goal after 20 minutes before adding his 101st and 102nd goals quickly later in the first half. Argentina led Curaçao, a team that is ranked 84 places lower than the world champion in the FIFA rankings, 5-0 at the break with Nicolás González and Enzo Fernández also scoring.

It happened 17 years after he made his Argentina debut against Croatia in a 3-2 loss in March 2006. For the majority of the second half, there was no scoring, but in the closing 15 minutes, Argentina scored twice once on an Angel Di Mara penalty kick and once on a Gonzalo Montiel assist following Paulo Dybala’s cross.

After scoring his 800th career goal in a friendly against Panama on 30th March 2023, Messi has now reached another significant milestone. He is now ranked third among all active international goal scorers, 15 goals behind Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and 7 goals behind Ali Daei of Iran.

It was always going to be about Messi surpassing 100 goals in Argentina’s second game since winning the World Cup in spectacular fashion against France in Qatar in December 2022. Argentina won 4-2 on penalties following a thrilling 3-3 draw. Players wore commemorative jerseys at the presentation of a replica trophy in front of a large crowd continuing Argentina’s World Cup celebrations.

WORLD ROUNDUP: UK ‘strikingly unprepared’ to tackle impacts of climate changes