⚽ 800 Milestone by Messi and nearing Cristiano Ronaldo ⚽ 🔟

The Argentine nicknamed La Pulga the one and only Lionel Messi had a wonderful night of jubilation with his 800th professional goal as Argentina won Panama 2-0 in their match after winning the football World Cup. 

Golden Leg of Argentina

Argentina Captain, 35, claimed his 99th goal internationally from a free-kick past 89 minutes, leaving the 83,000 people at the Monumental de Nunez Stadium in Buenos Aires electrified. While the substitute Thiago Almada had got the opening goal 11 minutes earlier after a Messi free-kick had returned off the post. 

Although the manager Lionel Scaloni gave the same line-up for the World Cup final and the entire team from the final posed for pictures in front of a duplicate trophy before the match starts. Even though Panama goalkeeper Jose Guerra stunned the crowd with several saves and the defenders kept tight to keep out the World Cup champions from scoring. Only after twice hitting the post from kicks inside the ground, Messi got his third try past tremendous goalkeeper Jose Carlos Guerra in the last minute to hit the massive 800-goal mark and made the house full crowd at Monumental Stadium joy. 

Messi thanked everyone for the love and appreciation he received from his fans all around the world. Even he went to dedicate the trophy to his country and global fans from across 120 countries. When the ex-Barcelona star came into the game requiring a goal to reach the milestone after scoring his 799th goal in the French league win over Nantes on Sunday. While Argentina fights Curacao on Wednesday to round off an absolutely thrilling week which has seen Messi as their king in the country. The Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo earlier became the one and only other player to reach 800 mark after the introduction of officially recognised career goals, in later September 2022, and has since reached 829 goals. Meanwhile, Ronaldo hit two goals in the latest Portugal's 4-0 win over Liechtenstein a fortnight ago, taking his international tally to 119+ in what was a world record 197th cap which made the day so special for the Portuguese star. 

Barcelona Career

After Messi crossed the 800 mark immediately after being named Best FIFA Men's Player and led his home country Argentina to their second World Cup title in Qatar. He also celebrated scoring his 700th career club goal recently in February. Not only the win over Panama came at the right time when Argentina's first match since beating the French team in a brutal final last December. 

The  home team was well supported by the home supporters as Thiago Almada started with the scoring in the second half and Messi added his historic goal right before full-time. The entire team attended the match and took pictures in front of the World Cup trophy just before kickoff, while the captain, his manager Lionel Scaloni and others brought their families to the ground and celebrated the moment with the electrifying fans. Some reporters reported that manager Scaloni was in tears and he said after the match: The Argentine players were great and the football belongs to them, and without them, we wouldn't have won the World Cup. - Messi milestone report: Separately for his clubs and Argentina. According to the IFFHS, captain Messi is only the second man ever to reach 800 career-goal achievements, after Cristiano Ronaldo. 

While the Portuguese star netted his 800th goal back in December 2021. However, there is some fight between the two parties as they argue between the official due to historical inconsistencies in the classification of "official" goals scored in "official" competitions. While the legend Pele claims to have scored 1,000 goals in his long career. Now, Messi aged 35, spent the initial 17 years of his senior career in only one club Barcelona, after that he went on to score an amazing club record of 686 goals in 780 appearances. His latest 475 La Liga scores remain an unachievable target for Spain's top division. He has been named FIFA's best men's player around seven times. Just like the Maradona he won the World Cup trophy once more in front of around 90,000 people and took a slow victory lap with his teammates, who carried statues of the same trophy, as lights in the sky erupted over the stadium. 

Icing the Cake with Winning World Cup 2022

If Messi scores another goal in Argentina's upcoming easy match friendly against Curacao on Tuesday, he will easily cross the landmark 100 goals for Argentina. Meanwhile, Atlanta United's Almada scored in the 79th minute with his first international goal after utilizing a rebound following a pass by Messi that hit the left corner post. The South American country Argentina's squad in the middle east attended the match. Messi and others brought their neighbors and relatives to the stadium. However, coach Lionel Scaloni was seen as emotional and crying; he was tearful before and after the match. Argentina won their World Cup homecoming after a friendly against Curacao on Wednesday, while Costa Rica faces Panama in the CONCACAF Nations League. 

To compare Ronaldo vs Messi Cristiano Ronaldo beat the record for the highest number of international appearances in Portugal's 4-0 win over Liechtenstein a European country. The front forward did a world-record 199th appearance to overhaul the previous achievement held by striker Bader Al-Mutawa. While the former player played 196 times for Kuwait and scored fewer goals. Ronaldo easily scored three goals in the success, taking his international tally to 119. Joao Canelo also struck for Portugal in Euro Champs qualifying Group F. Moreover, in Portugal’s team, Bosnia and Herzegovina won against Iceland 3-0 and the other European country Slovakia closed the day with a goalless draw with Luxembourg. To mention it was a day many records were broken, as Harry Kane became England’s all-time record scorer as his side started their qualifying campaign with a easy 2-1 victory over their long-time enemy  Italy. 

The other English player Declan Rice opened the scoring just before Kane and passed ahead of Wayne Rooney in England’s list of top goal scorers with an easy goal kick – his 56th for England and before half-time. Also in England’s internal category, North Macedonia won over an easy Malta 2-1. In the end, this year will see the seasoned players breaking every single record there for a long time unbroken.

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References

Martin, H. (2023) ‘Lionel Messi: Argentina & Paris St-Germain forward reaches 800 goals’, BBC News, 20 March. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/64894452 (Accessed: 20 March 2023).

Ferguson, A. (2023) ‘Lionel Messi scores 800th career goal in Argentina win over Panama’, Espn Sports, 20 March. Available at: 

https://www.espn.com/soccer/argentina-arg/story/4892651/messi-scores-800th-career-goal-in-argentina-win-over-panama (Accessed: 20 March 2023).

Neil McLeman, S. (2023) ‘Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi set more records as remarkable careers continue’, Daily Mirror, 20 March. Available at: https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/cristiano-ronaldo-lionel-messi-set-29544823 (Accessed: 20 March 2023).