Sports
Lionel Messi races to 88 career international goals for Argentina
Lionel Messi was at his best in Argentina's 3-0 humbling of Honduras in an international friendly. Messi scored a brace for Argentina as he raced to 88 career goals. Argentina are the in-form side and they look sorted ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. It was another fine performance and a clean sheet will please everyone. Here we present the key stats.
Messi dazzles as Argentina win
The 35-year-old Messi was at the centre of the action for the opening goal. He provided a superb lob over the defence to Papu Gomez, who set up Lautaro Martinez. Messi doubled Argentina's tally with a penalty in added time of the first half. The Paris Saint-Germain forward added a third goal with a superb chip over the keeper's head.
777 career goals for club and country
Messi has now scored 777 career goals for club and country. Besides his 88 goals for Argentina, he has also netted 689 times at club level. Messi scored a record 672 goals for Barcelona. He has managed 17 goals for PSG so far.
4th-highest scorer in international football
Messi now has 88 goals for Argentina in 163 appearances. He is only behind Cristiano Ronaldo (117), Ali Daei (109), and Mokhtar Dahari (89) in terms of international goals. Messi, who has scored 8 goals for Argentina in 2022, had earlier surpassed the legendary Ferenc Puskas (84 goals). Messi is one of the seven players to have scored 80-plus goals.
34 games unbeaten run for Argentina
Argentina are now unbeaten in 34 games in all competitions. Argentina have not lost a game since July 2019. As per Squawka, Argentina are three games away from matching Italy's world record unbeaten streak of 37 games.
