New records set for Lionel Messi in the World Cup qualifiers

The record for most goal contributions in football history is currently held by Messi. Scotland and England played their first official encounter in 1872, according to FIFA. Since then, 152 years have passed in the football globe. Additionally, Messi broke all prior records for goal contributions in today’s Argentina vs. Bolivia game.

Throughout his career, he has contributed 377 assists and 846 goals. The Argentine great has contributed to 1,223 goals overall, which is the most in official games.

Lionel Messi brought up memories of an incident that occurred fifteen years ago by scoring three goals and dishing out two assists. Joaquín Botero was the last player to record a hat-trick and two assists in the same CONMEBOL qualification match. This Bolivian star performed a same act against Argentina in 2009.

Messi attended that game in La Paz. Messi talked about those old memories after today’s game, but he made it plain that he did not view this match as a way to exact retribution for the game that took place fifteen years ago. Instead, he is mostly concerned with having fun during these final games of his career. He also talked about how much he enjoyed hearing the crowd yell his name.

Messi’s hat-trick, however, set his greatest record. Lionel Messi scored his 10th hat-trick while wearing the national team jersey, his 58th of his career. The record for the most hat-tricks for a national team is currently held by Messi. The only other individual who has this record, though, is Cristiano Ronaldo. The record for the most national team hat-tricks is currently shared by the two footballing titans.

Messi is the only player at the top of another record. The 37-year-old icon scored three hat-tricks, becoming him the only player in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying history to do it. This record was initially set by him against Ecuador in 2016, then by Bolivia in 2021, and then by the same opponent again in 2024.