Picture Credit: Twitter
On March 28 (Tuesday), the World Cup winning Argentina captain Lionel Messi became the first player to reach the 100-goal milestone for his country in front of the home crowd. He achieved this monumental feat in the 20th minute with a right-foot shot from the edge of the penalty area to give his team the lead in an international friendly against Curacao at the Estadio Único Madre de Ciudades in the city of Santiago del Estero.
35-year-old Messi scored a couple of more goals to finish the night with a hattrick as Argentina defeated their Caribbean opponents by 7-0. This was also the 7th international hattrick for the once in a lifetime footballer from the city of Rosario.
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After Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Argentina with his milestone 100th goal, it was Nicolas Gonzales who doubled the lead for the hosts in the 23rd minute with a towering header from close range.
In the 33rd minute, it was the Argentina captain Messi who stretched his team’s lead to 3-0 with the trademark left foot finish to the far corner of the goal. Couple of minutes later, Enzo Fernandes put his name on the scoresheet with a thunderous right foot strike from just outside the penalty box.
At this stage, Argentina were looking rampant and it didn’t take much longer for Lionel Messi to complete his hattrick. In the 37th minute, he made a solo run to get behind the defences of Curacao and put the ball in the back of the net, to the left side of the goalkeeper who went the wrong way, to make the scoreline 5-0 for his country.
Argentina added two more goals in the second half to win 7-0 with Angel De Maria getting on the scoresheet in the 78th minute and Gonzalo Montiel scoring in the 87th minute.