Argentina defeated Estonia 5-0 in a friendly match on Sunday in Pamplona, Spain, with Lionel Messi scoring all five goals. Messi joins only Juan Andres Marvezy and Manuel Moreno in scoring five goals in a game for Argentina!
Messi continued his hot streak for Argentina, after Argentina’s Finalissima triumph over Italy on Wednesday at Wembley Stadium.
The 34-year-old was Argentina’s creative master at Wembley, setting up two of the three goals, but also scored against Estonia to move to 86 international goals in his 162nd outing.
In Spain, the Paris Saint-Germain star opened the scoring with a penalty in the eighth minute and had completed his hat-trick by the 47th minute. Messi’s eighth international hat-trick for Argentina, but things were about to become even better for the playmaker!
He added two more goals in the 71st and 76th minutes to achieve five goals in a single game for the second time in his career, matching his feat against Bayer Leverkusen in March 2012.
Messi’s heroics also matched Argentina’s best goal scoring performance in a single match. He was already well ahead of the pack as Argentina’s all-time leading goal scorer, and he has now tied Manuel Seoane in 1925 and Juan Marvezzi in 1941 by scoring five goals in a game.
Former England striker Gary Lineker paid tribute to Messi with a gushing tweet. “The extraordinary Lionel Messi has scored all 5 of Argentina’s goals tonight,” Lineker wrote. “Astonishingly, it’s not his goal scoring that elevates him from the other greats. He’s also as good a passer and dribbler as anyone that’s ever played the game. The Messiah.”
Messi is the world’s fourth highest international goal scorer, after only Cristiano Ronaldo (115), Ali Daei (109) of Iran, and Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia (89).
Lionel Messi now has 86 goals for his country!
“We keep growing, that’s what we are looking for,” he said this week. “We are working on a day by day basis in order to improve further. We continue to say that we are not the top favourites, but we will put up a fight against anyone, because this group is hopeful, it has clear goals.
“We must keep improving. Now we have important matches in September, we need to work and improve in order to arrive the best way possible at our World Cup debut.”
Lionel Scaloni’s side is unbeaten in 33 matches, with the most recent defeat a 2-0 loss to Brazil in the 2019 Copa America semi-finals.
Argentina will face Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Poland in the World Cup group stages in Qatar later this year.
