Lionel Messi passes milestone 100 goals for Argentina with hat-trick against Curacao in international friendly

Lionel Messi scored his 100th goal for Argentina as he netted a hat-trick in a 7-0 rout of Curacao in their international friendly. The world champions took on the small Caribbean island nation in a friendly at the Estadio Unico Madre de Ciudades with Messi coming into the match on 99 goals for his country.

Ad The Paris Saint-Germain forward — who notched his 800th career goal in the recent 2-0 win over Panama — reached his century milestone after just 20 minutes coolly slotting beyond Curacao keeper Eloy Room with his right foot to open the scoring on the night. TransfersMan Utd, City, Liverpool and Newcastle all battle for £35m Veiga — Paper Round26/03/2023 AT 05:37 Nicolas Gonzalez headed in a second minutes later before Messi curled one in to double his tally and net Argentina’s third before the half-hour mark.

Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez rifled in a fourth and Messi completed his hat-trick in just the 37th minute, finishing a one-on-one with the helpless Room to take his overall tally to 102 from 174 appearances. Second-half goals from Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Montiel sealed an emphatic win but the day belonged to one man.

«We will never stop celebrating and I think it's fair and deserved,» Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said afterwards. «I hope there will be more [Messi goals], he deserves all the praise and it's good that these goals had been on Argentine soil, that has a special value too.» De Bruyne and Lukaku on target Belgium edge out Germany in five-goal thriller 'I’ve never seen anything like it' – McTominay basks in glory of historic Scotland win Wales overcome Latvia, Kovacic nets double as Croatia win in Turkey Messi becomes just the third male footballer to reach the 100-goal mark behind long-time rival