The captain of the Argentine national football team – Lionel Messi, scored the first goal for the “Gachusos” in the 1/8-final clash with Australia from the 2022 World Cup, won 2:1. It was also the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner’s 1,000th career match, marking his first World Cup knock-out goal.
At the same time, Messi passed the legendary Diego Maradona in goals for Argentina in world football finals. The current Paris Saint-Germain striker now has nine such goals. In front of him is only Gabriel Batistuta, who can boast of 10 goals.
10—Gabriel Batistuta
9—Lionel Messi
8—Diego MaradonaMessi becomes Argentina’s second-highest scorer at the World Cup ⚽ pic.twitter.com/3ZPzVg6Wa2
— B/R Football (@brfootball) December 3, 2022
Otherwise, Messi has 789 goals in those 1000 games in his career so far. In Qatar, this is his third goal, after he also scored in the matches against Saudi Arabia and Mexico.
In his 1,000th career game, the Gauchos star scored his first World Finals knockout stage and now has 22 major tournament goals with the national team. He has scored 9 times in the world championships and 13 times in the Copa America.
Cristiano Ronaldo also has 22 goals for Portugal in the most important forums. The 37-year-old striker has scored 14 goals in European championships and 8 in world championships.
Another achievement of Messi is also curious. He broke Ecuador’s Ivan Hurtado’s record for most caps by a South American. Those of Leo for Argentina are now 169. According to FIFA, the world record is held by the Kuwaiti Bader Al-Mutwe, who has 196 matches for the national team.
🐐 Argentina’s Lionel Messi is now the most capped South American player in football history.
🥇 🇦🇷 Lionel Messi-169 Apps
🥈 🇪🇨 Iván Hurtado-168 Apps🔝 #FIFAWorldCup GOAT#Messi𓃵|#ARG|#ARGAUS pic.twitter.com/tVZsAFoMRh
— FIFA World Cup Stats (@alimo_philip) December 3, 2022
