Messi smashes his 100th International goal in a 7-0 win over Curacao

It was Messi's night after Argentina's captain scored his 100th goal with the Albiceleste jersey, in the friendly played on Tuesday night against Curaçao, at the Madre de Ciudades stadium in Santiago del Estero thrashing the side by 7-0. Along with that 35-year-old WC winner striker also scored his seventh hat trick in the Argentine jersey.

Rosario-born star footballer shouted the first goal for the Albiceleste team 20 minutes into the match, after receiving a cross pass from Lo Celso, after which the Argentine captain settled down and defined with a right corner to beat goalkeeper Eloy Room. But the tally quickly increased, because at the end of the first half he had scored two more goals at 33 and 37 minutes, now reaching 102 goals mark with the Albiceleste.

Messi, 35, made his debut for the Argentine team in a friendly against Hungary (2-1) in August 2005, and scored his first goal in another international match against Croatia (2-3) in March 2006. The number 10 scored 48 goals for the Albiceleste team in friendly matches, 28 in World Cup qualifiers, 13 in World Cups and 13 in the Copa América.

The Rosario-born striker had already become the youngest Argentine to score in a WC in June 2006, in the 6-0 defeat of Serbia and Montenegro in the World Cup in Germany, when he was 18 years and 357 days old. It was the greatest win in the Scaloni era, surpassing the one made against Estonia(5-0) last June, and also the game that scored the most goals for La Scaloneta, surpassing Ecuador in 2019, all statistics expected in a friendly where Argentina showed its power and left behind the celebrations world champion to focus on what's to come to the date in June to prepare for the Qualifiers in September.

The man from Rosario had just scored the 800th goal of his professional career last Thursday against Panama (2-0), in another festive match for the Albiceleste, who took advantage of the international window to continue at home the celebrations for the third world title of their history, achieved in December last year in a memorable final against France.