Lionel Messi scored five goals in an official game for the second time in his career on Sunday. The 34-year-old Argentinian scored all the goals in the friendly game with Estonia (5-0 win) and is now fourth on the all-time top scorers list in men’s international football.
Messi opened the score in the ninth minute at the Estadio El Sadar in Pamplona with a striking penalty, scored the 2-0 just before half-time and scored three more goals in the second half.
The star – who has been Argentina’s record international and all-time top scorer for some time – now stands at 86 goals in 162 international matches. With that, he surpasses Ferenc Puskás in the ranking of the most accurate internationals ever. The Real Madrid legend scored 84 times in 89 caps for Hungary and Spain between 1945 and 1963.
Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo (117 goals), Iranian Ali Daei (109 goals) and Malaysian Mokhtar Dahari (89 goals) are the only men to have more goals to their name in global international football. Ronaldo scored twice for Portugal on Sunday in the Nations League match against Switzerland.
Estonia is not a high flyer in international football. The team of national coach Thomas Häberli is 110th in the FIFA ranking. Argentina beat Italy 0-3 on Wednesday in London and wanted to play against another European team during this international match, in preparation for the World Cup in Qatar at the end of this year. Due to the Nations League, not many teams were available.
Ajax player Lisandro Martínez was in the base for Argentina in the game against Estonia. The defender was replaced after 62 minutes by Feyenoord player Marcos Senesi, who made his debut. Nicolás Tagliafico (Ajax) remained on the bench for the entire match.