The legendary Argentine star, Lionel Messi, has once again lodged his name in golden letters in the record books.
On Sunday, he scored the difficult first goal for his country like a captain should, against the stubborn opponents, Mexico, and has now equalized football legend Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal count in the FIFA World Cup.
The Argentine captain and the Paris Saint-Germain star netted his 8th fiery goal in the World Cup, which equaled Cristiano Ronaldo’s goal tally, with a left-footed bash from outside the box in the 64th minute of the play, leaving the Mexican goalkeeper Ochoa in utter shock. He finally pierced the deadlock in the game during the Group C faceoff at the Lusail Stadium earlier.
The Player of the Match, Lionel Messi(ah), also equaled non-other than the football God Diego Maradona’s record for the most FIFA World Cup appearances by any Argentine player after appearing in his 21st World Cup match on 27th November against Mexico in which he also brought a crucial victory to his team.
The 35-year-old has also become the record-breaking second-highest goal scorer for his country, Argentina, in a World Cup, only behind Gabriel Batistuta. He shares this record with legends like Maradona and Guillermo Stabile.
Lionel Messi had arrived on Qatari soil with six goals in 19 matches total, which has now seen a jump to a record-breaking eight in total within 21 matches. Scoring his first goal in the 2022 edition of the FIFA World Cup against Saudi Arabia in his inaugural match, which they ultimately lost, and then later followed by a stunning goal against Mexico earlier.
Ronaldo has maintained his goal tally of eight goals in 18 appearances. It would be very interesting to witness this new race between the two icons on the world’s biggest stage for football. The next group match for Portugal will give us an insight into whether Ronaldo’s team can progress into the knockouts and if he can overtake Messi again.
Messi has now also netted goals in six consecutive international matches for Argentina and has matched his very own feat from a decade ago.
Lionel Messi, the ‘messiah’ for Argentina, is already the Argentine international player with more caps (167) and more goals (93) than any other player in Argentina’s history. He has also generated more assists than any other player in history for the South American country.
