Lionel Messi surpassed 100 career goals for Argentina with a hattrick in the first half of the World Cup champions’ 7-0 rout over Curacao Tuesday.
The 35-year-old Messi opened the scoring in the international friendly against the Caribbean team in the 20th minute with a right-foot shot from the edge of the box to reach the milestone 100.
He added his 101st for Argentina with a crossed shot to the right of the goalkeeper courtesy of Nico Gonzalez and 102nd after an easy run to score.
Argentina was leading Curacao 5-0 at halftime, with Gonzalez and Enzo Fernandez also putting their names on the scoreboard.
Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Montiel extended Argentina’s ridiculous lead in the second half, bagging goals of their own in the 78th and 87th minutes respectively.
The Argentine captain trails only two male players on the list of most goals scored for national teams in official matches; Portugal´s Cristiano Ronaldo, with 122, and Iran´s Ali Daei, with 109.
He is the first South American male player to hit the 100-goal mark and second South American overall behind Brazil’s Marta, who has 109 for country.
Almost half (46) of Messi’s goals have come in international friendlies. The PSG forward has scored 28 goals in World Cup qualifiers, including a hat trick in a 3-1 win at Ecuador in October 2017 that secured Argentina passage to the 2018 World Cup.
Messi has scored 13 times in the Copa America and he is the highest goalscorer for Argentina at World Cup competitions, having netted 13 goals in 26 matches spanning five editions, starting in 2006.
The friendly in Santiago del Estero is Argentina’s second since winning the World Cup title in December. Messi’s team beat Panama 2-0 in Buenos Aires last week.
