Messi scored a hat-trick as Argentina won 7-0
Argentina pressed the field from the beginning before the opponent ranked 86th in FIFA. The reigning world champion holds the ball 60% of the time, finishing 23 shots, of which 16 are on target. Curacao only had four shots and all went out.
Messi scored a hat-trick in the first half, starting with the opening goal in the 20th minute. After receiving a pass from Giovani Lo Celso, Messi turned around a defender and shot his right foot into the near corner. This is Messi's 100th goal for Argentina. He became the first player to reach this milestone in the history of the blue and white shirt team.
In the 33rd minute, Messi picked up the ball in the penalty area from Nicolas Gonzalez's pass, missed a Curacao defender and then shot his left foot into the far corner. Four minutes later, he completed his hat-trick. This time, after another pass from Lo Celso, the Argentina captain shot down to the right corner in the face of goalkeeper Eloy Room.
The latest three goals raise the team's scoring record to 102. Messi's achievement is 46 more goals than the second, Gabriel Batistuta. Another former striker, Sergio Aguero is third with 41 goals.
See between Messi's three goals are two other goals of his teammates. Nicolas Gonzalez, who missed the 2022 World Cup due to injury, headed home to make it 2-0 in the 23rd minute, after a Curacao defender blocked the first strike.
The other goal in the first half was a superb long shot from Enzo Fernandez. After Messi's kick from 18 meters in the 35th minute, the most expensive player in the Premier League shot down goalkeeper Room. This is the second goal of the 22-year-old midfielder for Argentina. The first goal was a heart-stopping phase in the 2-0 win over Mexico in the 2022 World Cup.
After leading five goals in the first half, coach Lionel Scaloni soon let Nicolas Otamendi, Mac Allister, Enzo Fernandez, Lautaro Martinez and Lo Celso off. However, the players on the field still maintained good pressure on the Curacao defense.
The referee gave Argentina a penalty in the 78th minute, but Messi gave the shot to Di Maria. The star Juventus club completed the task on the 11m mark to raise the score to 6-0.
The match ended with a 7-0 winning goal in the 87th minute. After Dybala's breakthrough cross from the left wing, defender Gonzalo Montiel easily cushioned the Curacao goal. In the World Cup, Montiel was the last penalty kick to bring Argentina to a 4-2 victory in the final.
This is Argentina's second friendly match after the 2023 World Cup. Before that, on March 23, Messi and his teammates beat Panama 2-0. Argentina also has a friendly against Cameroon in Bangladesh in June, before the start of the 2026 South American World Cup qualifiers in September.
