'Wish this craziness never ends' - Lionel Messi after netting 100th international goal for Argentina
Argentina continued its flawless winning streak post-FIFA World Cup 2022 triumph as it hammered Curacao 7-0 on Tuesday. The game saw Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick, surpassing the 100 international goals mark.
Reigning world champion Argentina appears to be going through a purple patch, as it is on an eight-contest winning streak since the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. As for its post-World Cup commitments, it continued its flawless streak, drubbing Panama 2-0, where superstar striker-cum-skipper Lionel Messi punched in his 99th international goal and 800th career goal.
On Tuesday, it was up against Curacao, which saw La Albiceleste thrash the side 7-0, with Messi striking a hat-trick as he went past the 100 international goals mark. Consequently, he holds the most international goals by an Argentinian and the most caps (173) records.
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As for Messi's current 100th international goal, he has become only the third lad after Cristiano Ronaldo (122) and Ali Daei (109) to do so, while he looks set to surpass the latter. Notably, the Argentine is also the only world champion to have scored 100 international goals. He was presented with a plaque by Argentine Football Association (AFA) president Claudio Tapia to celebrate the occasion.
Messi took to his Instagram handle following the feat and documented, "What a nice way to close these dates, impressive today all the people in Santiago del Estero. I wish we can continue to share many moments like these and that this craziness never ends!!!"
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In the meantime, Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni cited (via FotMob), "As for Lionel Messi, I want him to be on the pitch and be happy. These days were different to the previous friendlies because the players were allowed to be with their people. We felt they wanted to contact the outside, making preparing for these two games difficult. But, in the end, we got them through by playing with intensity."