March 29, (THEWILL) – Argentina’s Lionel Messi notched his 100th international goal before completing a first-half hat-trick in a lopsided match against Curacao on Tuesday.
The Argentinian captain led his team to a romping 7-0 victory in Santiago del Estero, where the world champions raced to a 5-0 half-time lead. The 34-year-old played the entire 90 minutes, scoring three goals within 17 devastating first-half minutes and laying off the assist for Enzo Fernandez’s powerful strike among the flurry.
Messi’s century goal came in the 20th minute, when he jinked past two defenders and fired in a low right-foot shot after Giovani Lo Celso found him in space inside the box. Nicolas Gonzalez added a second in the 23rd minute when he out-jumped Curacao goalkeeper Eloy Room to head home from a corner before he played provider for Messi’s second with a neat left-foot finish in the 33rd minute.
Two minutes later, Messi held up the ball and dished out a deft pass for Fernandez to lash home, with the Paris Saint-Germain star wrapping up his hat-trick when he raced on to Lo Celso’s lofted pass and coolly converted after taking two touches.
In the second half, Room brilliantly denied Lautaro Martinez twice early on, while Leandro Bacuna fizzed Curacao’s best chance over the bar from a 63rd-minute free-kick on the edge of the box. Substitute Angel Di Maria added a sixth goal from the penalty spot in the 78th minute after Cuco Martina’s handball, with Gonzalo Montiel side-footing home another from Paulo Dybala’s cutback in the 88th minute to wrap up proceedings.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
