He was one step away from the milestone. Lionel Messi reached the milestone on Thursday night (early Friday morning Bangladesh time). In football life, he scored 800 goals for club and country. Only Cristiano Ronaldo is ahead.
Argentina has played football at home since the beginning. From ball possession to shots on goal, the Argentines were far ahead of Panama. However, the failure of the forwards was not the only goal.
Messi scored from a free kick in the 89th minute in a friendly match against Panama. Argentina won 2-0 in Buenos Aires. Messi could have reached the milestone of 800 long ago in this match. But twice his shots hit the post. He also took those two shots from free kicks. Finally succeeded on the third attempt. In the 89th minute, his shot went wide of Panama goalkeeper Jose Carlos Guerra’s left.
There was no goal for the rest of the match. After the 2-0 victory, the Argentines also made a big celebration. After winning the match, Argentina Football Association President Claudio Tapia handed over the World Cup to the national team.
It was Argentina’s first match since winning the World Cup by defeating France last December. Not a single seat was empty to watch Messi play at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires. Before the start of the match, the whole Argentina team took a picture standing in front of the World Cup trophy. Messi, coach Lionel Scaloni and many others came to the field with their families.
Messi needed just one goal to reach the 800-goal milestone before going into this match. He reached 799 by scoring for PSG against Nantes in the French league last Saturday. Messi scored 800 goals as the second footballer in the world after Portugal’s Ronaldo. Ronaldo reached this milestone in December 2021.
