100 goals for Argentina
Messi celebrates his ‘madness’
03/29/2023, 1:40 p.m
Only two footballers have scored more international goals than Lionel Messi. The Argentine world champion joins the 100-time goalscorer club. He himself speaks of “madness”, his teammates watch him enthusiastically.
Intoxicated by the next milestone in his incomparable career, Lionel Messi set his sights on further exploits. “What a beautiful way to round off these meetings,” wrote the world star on Instagram, “hopefully we can continue to share many moments like this together, may the madness never end!!!”
Messi had just broken the magic mark of 100 international goals as only the third professional. The 35-year-old captain increased his tally to 102 goals for Argentina in a 7-0 win against the football dwarf Curacao as part of the celebrations of Qatar’s World Cup triumph. On the pitch, he reacted as usual: while cheering, the “Messiah” pointed both index fingers and looked up at the sky.
In doing so, he had “immortalized himself in the history of the national team with the force of a hurricane,” as the newspaper “La Nacion” reverently wrote. “His numbers are hypnotic,” it said, while there are “no limits” for Messi. The sheet “Clarin” bowed to the “eternal idol”.
Messi makes teammates ‘smile’
In his 174th international match, Messi scored his fastest hat-trick (20th, 33rd, 37th) for the Albiceleste in Santiago del Estero. Only Iran’s Ali Daei (109 goals in 149 international matches) and his eternal rival Cristiano Ronaldo (122/198) are ahead of him in the top scorer list.
Messi was honored with an oversized plaque by the head of the association, Claudio Tapia, after which it was off to the next lap of honor with teammates and the World Cup trophy. “You can’t describe Messi in words,” said team-mate Nicolas Gonzalez, “every time he touches the ball he makes you smile.”
The local press dissected Messi’s monumental figures with relish. He scored two of the 102 goals with his head, ten with his right foot and 90 with his gifted left foot. He scored 24 times from penalties and ten from free kicks. 13 times each at the World Cup and Copa America, 28 times in qualifiers and 48 times in tests. He scored the most goals in the year of the World Cup triumph in 2022 (18), the fewest in the corona-stricken 2020 (1). Most often he hit the bottom left (28) and only twice half-up in the middle.
“I’m not obsessed with breaking records,” Messi once said. “What I want,” he emphasized, “are titles. I would give up all the records for the World Cup and to make my compatriots happy.” But he has now done that too.