Football

'GOAT toh hai bhai' - Fans elated as Lionel Messi's hattrick against Curacao takes him beyond 100 career international goals

Lionel Messi scored a hattrick against Curacao to surpass the 100 career International goals landmark. Here's how fans reacted.

author-image
Daniel S
New Update
Lionel Messi scores hattrick to surpass 100 International goals

Lionel Messi scores hattrick to surpass 100 International goals (Source: Twitter)

With three goals in the opening period of Tuesday's international friendly against Curacao, Lionel Messi notched a hat trick and reached the milestone of 100 goals for Argentina in his career. In their second game after winning the FIFA World Cup in December, the World Champions defeated the Caribbean team 7-0.

To reach the 100-goal mark against Curacao, Messi, 35, opened the score in the 20th minute with a right-foot effort from the edge of the box. Three minutes later, a close-range header from Nico Gonzalez added one more. Then, in the 33rd and 37th minutes, Messi scored his 101st and 102nd goals for Argentina, respectively, with a crossing shot to the right of the goalie. He had helped Enzo Fernandez's rocket from the edge of the box two minutes earlier.

In the list of players with the most goals scored for national teams in official matches, the Argentine captain is only behind two players - Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal (122 goals) and Ali Daei of Iran (109 goals).

Lionel Messi's statue to stand beside Maradona and Pele in the CONMEBOL Museum

As Lionel Messi led Argentina to the FIFA World Cup championship in 2022, he emerged from Diego Maradona's shadow. According to Reuters, his statue will now be located at the South American federation's museum adjacent to Maradona and Pele. Messi stood beside the statue at an unveiling ceremony while carrying a trophy.

"I had never dreamed or thought about this," Messi said. "My dream was to enjoy what I liked when I was little, to be a professional football player, to do what I always loved in this life," he added. "I had a very long road, many decisions and defeats, but I always looked ahead and wanted to go for a triumph, for a victory," he went on to say. I think that is the most important thing, to fight for your dreams, that everything is possible, and to enjoy the game, which is the most beautiful thing there is," he stated.

Here's how fans reacted to yet another magical Messi landmark:

 

Featured Twitter Reactions Football Football news Lionel Messi Argentina