Lionel Messi opened the scoring for Argentina in their first-round knockout match against Australia at the World Cup. A win for Messi’s side will see them play the Netherlands in the quarter-finals.
Messi scored his third goal of this World Cup, as he captains his side for the third consecutive game out in Qatar. The goal for the attacker fell on his 1000th career game.
Not only was it significant that he scored in his landmark match, but it was also because he recorded his first-ever knockout goal in a World Cup.
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Both Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are considered the best players of all time, at least of the modern era, but bizarrely neither of the pair had scored in a World Cup knockout match. Messi’s first-half goal against Australia finally ends the crazy statistic.
The Argentinian scored his 789th goal in 1000 matches during his career. His strike on Saturday evening also meant that he recorded his ninth World Cup goal, which is one more than Maradona, and his now one goal away from equalling Gabriel Batistuta’s record as Argentina’s all-time World Cup goal-scorer.
Prior to the World Cup, Messi admitted that it could be his last: “I am aware that this is a very special moment. It is most likely my last World Cup - the last opportunity to make my dream, our dream, a reality. But other than that, nothing special.”
Messi has scored 94 goals in 168 games for his country and has appeared at the last four World Cups. The veteran has never been able to get his hands on the trophy, but will hoping to change that in his last attempt.
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