Superstar Lionel Messi once again shined brightly to rescue Argentina and also had many memorable milestones. Argentina still depends on Messi Messi is still showing destructive form at Inter Miami last time.

Excitement followed El Pulga when the player returned to play for the Argentina team. In the opening match of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers in South America, Messi continued to be the hero to help the Tango team win a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Ecuador. However, the 36-year-old superstar did not play the entire match and left the field in the 89th minute. This is only the second time since taking charge of the Argentina team that coach Lionel Scaloni replaced Messi on the field.Sharing in the post-match interview, Messi made many fans worried when he admitted that his physical strength was not guaranteed. “I left the field because I felt a bit tired. Maybe this won’t be the last time I leave the field like that,” Messi said. Since moving to Inter Miami, Messi has gone through a busy schedule. In August, the Argentine striker played a total of 690 minutes (excluding overtime). 

Before returning to join the national team, Messi played the full 90 minutes in Inter Miami’s 3-1 victory over LA FC. On September 13, Argentina has a trip to Bolivia. Sharing with the media, Coach Scaloni said he would consider before deciding whether to let Messi continue playing or not.“I’m not sure what problem Messi is having. He asked to be replaced in the last match. Tomorrow, we will check him more closely. If Messi is okay, he will play against Bolivia.

If Messi is not in good shape, we will consider other options,” Mr. Scaloni shared.Record kingWith his goal from a free kick against Ecuador, Messi rose with Beckham to rank 5th in the list of players with the most free kicks scored, after Juninho, Pele, Victor Legrottaglie and Ronaldinho. In particular, Messi is only one goal away from third place.In 2023, Messi scored five goals from free kicks, or an average of every 7.4 matches to score one goal. His best free kick performance was in 2018 with 10 goals, and his best performance then was 5.4 goals per game.Before 2012, Messi only scored 4 goals from free kicks from the wall, because he was not responsible for taking the main free kick at Barca or Argentina. But since scoring 7 goals in 2012, Messi started to explode.

 Meanwhile, Ronaldo, despite being ranked 9th on the free kick list with 60 goals, has not scored more than 4 goals per year in the past decade. Messi has just surpassed Ronaldo in the number of times he has scored a goal at the national team level. The Argentina captain has scored 104 goals, assisted 53 times in 176 matches, that is, he has scored 157 goals. And the Portuguese striker scored 123 goals, assisted 33 times in 200 matches, contributed to 156 goals. Messi also equaled Luis Suarez’s record with 29 goals in the South American World Cup qualifiers, and the Uruguay striker not to mention broke out when he was not called up to the team this time.

In addition, La Pulga is also aiming for the milestone of 200 matches in the Argentina national team shirt. After the victory against Ecuador, Messi has made 177 appearances for Argentina, far surpassing Javier Mascherano’s 147 in second place. In the immediate future,Argentina will have 17 matches left in the World qualifiers. Cup 2026.

If he hadn’t missed a single La Albiceleste match, Messi would have reached 193 matches.In addition, Copa America 2024 will also be a great opportunity for La Pulga to complete the goal. In case Argentina reaches the final and Messi continues to appear in those matches, the World Cup champion will have 7 matches and just enough to reach the 200 match mark.