Lionel Messi scored Argentina’s opening goal in their World Cup knockout encounter against Australia. Argentina ended the game with a victory to book a date with the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.
As he led his team out in Qatar for the third straight game, Messi scored his third goal of the World Cup. The attacker’s goal came in his 1000th game of his career.
Not only was it significant because he scored in the historic game, but it was also remarkable since it was his first-ever World Cup knockout goal.
Despite being regarded as two of the greatest players ever, at least in the contemporary era, neither Messi nor Cristiano Ronaldo had ever scored in a World Cup semifinal. The absurd statistic was finally broken by Messi’s goal against Australia in the first half.
In the course of a career spanning 1000 games, the Argentine icon scored his 789th goal. Additionally, with his goal on Saturday, Messi has surpassed Maradona’s record of eight World Cup goals and moved one goal closer to Gabriel Batistuta’s record of eleven World Cup goals for Argentina.
Messi acknowledged before the World Cup that it might be his last: “I am aware that this is a really significant time. The chance to turn my desire, and our dream, into reality is likely my last World Cup. Nothing noteworthy, though, except than that.
Messi has participated in the last four World Cups and scored 94 goals in 168 games for his nation. The veteran will make one final attempt to win the trophy after failing to do so in the pervious editions of the tournament.
In his 100th game as captain of Argentina and his 1,000th game overall, Lionel Messi once more stepped up to keep his nation’s World Cup hopes alive.
The “magician” finally scored his first-ever World Cup knockout goal in his fifth World Cup attempt as Argentina advanced further toward ending their 36-year wait for World Cup success with a 2-1 victory against Australia.
Messi scored the game’s first goal after a tense first half at the wildly energetic Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, and things were generally going according to plan until the valiant Australians scored a late goal to give Argentina a real worry.
π΅πΉ Cristiano Ronaldo after 1000 games;
— FIFA World Cup Stats (@alimo_philip) December 3, 2022
β½οΈ 725 goals
π― 216 assists
π 31 trophies
π¦π· Lionel Messi after 1000 games;
β½οΈ 789-goals
π― 348-assists
π 41-trophies
π#FIFAWorldCup Stats #Messiπ΅|#CR7π΅|#ARG|#ARGAUS pic.twitter.com/cqIOQi6TFc
With the dreams of a nation once again inexorably relying on their number 10, who is now the tournament’s joint-top scorer with three goals, the Argentines now face an exciting quarterfinal matchup against the Dutch.
All the Australia players were fanboying over Lionel Messi after the match! ππpic.twitter.com/7i7teRQZfq
β SPORTbible (@sportbible) December 4, 2022
After scoring his 789th goal of his career, Messi said: “I am happy for taking another step forward, achieving another objective. It was a very strong and difficult match.”
Rio Ferdinand, a former England defender, stated on BBC One: “The best individual performance from a player at this World Cup. It was almost god-like. I’ve not seen anything like this.”
“How is he doing this? He is embarrassing players with his head up. He’s taking people on and is able to see the whole pitch, where people are. He is phenomenal.”
Argentina is attempting to win a third world championship under Lionel Scaloni after winning the previous two in 1986 and 1986, respectively, with the help of Diego Maradona.
There was a sea of Argentina number 10 shirts with the names of both Messi and Maradona emblazoned on the backs around stadiums in Qatar in honour of their stats in the game.
Lionel Messi has now won more FIFA Man of the Match awards (8) than any other player in the competition’s history π
β LiveScore (@livescore) December 3, 2022
ππ§ππ―π’ππππ₯π π¦π·πͺ pic.twitter.com/B2mGJRFD1q
Lionel Messi by stats
Messi overtook Roberto Ayala as the oldest Argentine to score a World Cup knockout goal.
Only six players have participated in five different World Cups, including him.
After Roger Milla for Cameroon (five), he is the second player to score at least three World Cup goals after turning 35.
Messi is currently the youngest and oldest player since 1966 to score a goal and provide an assist in a World Cup game. He scored the opening goal and provided the assist for the second in Argentina’s 2-0 triumph over Mexico, demonstrating that he is far from finished.
After Saudi Arabia’s unexpected victory, Argentina won their first game of the competition. Messi has helped his team get back in form so they can advance to the round of 16.
