LAGOS, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA) – Argentina captain Lionel Messi netted a hat-trick against Curacao on Tuesday to race past the 100-goal barrier for the world champions.
With the goals, the 35-year-old has joined Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo (122) and Iran’s Ali Daei (109) in achieving the feat by becoming the third player to hit over a century at international level.
Also, the Argentine is now the first male South American player to achieve the landmark.
He opened the scoring in the 20th minute to bring up his 100th goal in unique style, getting a pass in the box before slipping past his marker and placing the ball expertly into the bottom corner of the goal post.
Undoubtedly, the player always enjoys himself back in Argentina as the world champions have celebrated their World Cup triumph on home soil with two friendly matches.
The captain scored his 100th career goal for Argentina in a friendly win over Panama last time out and has now joined the 100 club.
On that note, the Argentina training camp has also been named after Messi to recognize his outstanding career.
“What a nice way to close these dates, impressive today all the people in Santiago del Estero,” Messi wrote on Instagram. “I wish we can continue to share together many moments like these and that this craziness never ends!!!”
However, the Argentine’s club future still remains uncertain as to where he’s headed but will now return to Paris Saint-Germain.
