Argentina wins the game by 5-0, all scored by Messi

The top class football star Lionel Messi of Argentina scored five goals alone during A match (Nations league) held on Monday. Another world-class player Cristiano Ronaldo scored two goals in Portugal versus Switzerland, renewing the highest goal scoring record in A match to 117.

In Argentina against Estonia match held in Pamplona of Spain on the day, Messi scored five goals alone winning the match 5-0. He scored one goal eight minutes after the match started, and another one 45 minutes into the first half. In the second half, his kick shook the goal net of Estonia three times, on two, 26, and 31 minutes after the game started.

This is the first time Messi scored five goals in one game wearing national league uniform. Before this game, he recorded seven hat-tricks - scoring three goals in a game - but never scored four during one game. He scored five goals in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 match against Leverkusen (Germany) in March 2012 while playing for the Spanish club FC Barcelona. Messi’s 86th goal made him 4th top scorer in men’s international soccer league, overtaking Hungary’s football legend Ferenc Puskas (1927∼2006, 84 goals). Winning against Estonia takes Argentina to an unbeaten 33 games in A match. Argentina's last defeat was a 2-0 loss to Brazil in the semi-finals in June 2019 Copa America, but the team has not registered any defeat since then for nearly three years.

Portugal swept to 4-0 victory over Switzerland in their UEFA National League on Monday with Ronaldo scoring two goals in the game. The team is in the same group with South Korea during Qatar World cup scheduled in November this year. By adding two goals, Cristiano extended his record of highest goal scoring to 117. His goal record is followed by Ali Daei of Iran (109 goals) and Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia (89 goals). Among the active players, Messi comes right after Ronaldo in the highest goal scorer list.

Uruguay, another team in the same group as in Korea for Qatar World Cup, finished their matches with the U.S. by 0-0, and with the Central African Republic by 1-1.


hun@donga.com