Lionel Messi in gala form: Sure, it’s just a friendly and yes, the opponent is “only” Estonia, but the 34-year-old still creates a legendary moment. He scored five goals for his Argentine national team and thus conceded a Hungarian icon in the statistics.
Lionel Messi enchants the world with a historic goal show. The Argentinian superstar scored five times against a completely overwhelmed national team from Estonia. Never before had he scored more goals in one game for his country. In the friendly in Pamplona, ??Spain, he scored twice in the first half and added three more after the break.
So far he had scored a maximum of three times in one game for Argentina. At club level, he scored five goals in FC Barcelona’s 7-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2011/2012 season’s round of 16. He now has 86 international goals, overtaking Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas (84). Messi is the player with the fourth most goals in men’s national shirt – behind Cristiano Ronaldo (117), Iran’s Ali Daei (109) and Malaysian icon Mokhtar Dahari (89).
He scored the 1-0 win against the Estonians with a mean penalty after just eight minutes. He increased in his typical way with the half-time whistle. With a left-footed shot into the far corner. And no sooner had the game started again than “La Pulga” was there again. He refined a cross with the inside from a short distance. He finally put together the four-pack after 71 minutes, benefiting from a serious drop-out by the Estonian defenders. After a duel in midfield, they briefly stop playing, Messi marches towards the goal – and scores.
Messi delivered the historic goal just five minutes later. The ball lands at Messi’s feet at the penalty spot after his team-mates’ shots got stuck several times or were saved by goalkeeper Matvei Igonen. He doesn’t need to be asked for long and completes his spectacular goal show in Pamplona.
Argentina had already won the “Finalissima” – the duel of the South American champions against the European champions – against Italy 3-0 on Wednesday, Messi provided two assists. At the Copa America last year, he won the long-awaited title with the national team.