Argentina legend Lionel Messi has overtaken Brazilian great Pele in the list of most international goals in football. He scored a hat-trick against Bolivia in the CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers that helped Argentina defeat Bolivia by 3-0. The three goals by Messi came in the 14th, 64th, and 88th minute of the match.
Leo Messi is now the fifth-highest goal scorer of all-time along with Godfrey Chitalu of Zambia with 79 goals. With this win against Bolivia, Argentina has gone up to second place in the WC Qualification table, just six points behind Brazil which has won 8 out of the 8 games they have played so far.
Even though Lionel Messi has overtaken Pele in terms of the number of goals scored, he is still 32 goals behind his fierce competitor, Cristiano Ronaldo - who is the highest goal scorer of all time. CR7 has 111 goals. He recently surpassed 109 goals of Iranian footballer Ali Daei.
Watch Lionel Messi's Hat Trick Against Bolivia:
The previous match that Argentina played was marked by controversies. Brazil vs Argentina had to be ended within five to six minutes as health officials from the Brazilian government intervened and stopped the match as four players had not complied to the Covid-19 guidelines. The health officials told that the four players had lied to the immigration officers about returning from England.
After the match ended, Messi was in tears, not for the record, but for being able to bring the Copa America Trophy back home and celebrate with the fans. Argentina had won the Copa America after defeating Brazil in July.