With his goal against Curaçao in the 20th minute on Tuesday, Lionel Messi became the third player in history to score 100 goals for his country, and the first to do so while holding a men's FIFA World Cup trophy.
Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Ali Daei of Iran both scored 100 goals for their respective nations, but neither has won a World Cup.
Argentina and Messi, 35, won the World Cup in 2022.

Messi added goals Nos. 101 and 102 to his tally during the opening period of Tuesday's match.
Argentina won the game 7-0 in the end.


Just a few days prior, Messi joined the aforementioned Ronaldo as the second player in history to reach 800 career goals.

In terms of total goals scored in a career, including club and international goals, Ronaldo currently holds the record.

Messi is the all-time leader for Argentina and fourth all-time on the list with 174 senior appearances for Argentina. Ronaldo presently holds the all-time record with 198 senior appearances for Portugal.

Messi leads all scorers in Argentina with 102 goals, a difference of 46 goals. In 2016's Copa América Centenario, Messi's free kick against the United States cemented his status as Argentina's all-time leading scorer.

#Messi brings a hat-trick & an assist for Argentina in 1st-half against Curacao

World Cup winner Lionel Messi brings a hat-trick & an assist for Argentina in just 1st-half in friendly match against Curacao.

A great first half and it's 5-0 for the World Cup champions Argentina. Lionel Messi with 3 goals and 1 assist. Goals aside, Gio Lo Celso has been one of the best players on the pitch. Some nice goals and Messi on 102 goals for Argentina.

Messi had not scored a hat-trick in the first half since 22.02.2020 (with Barça, against Eibar). With Argentina it is the FIRST TIME he achieves it.

Scotland hero McTominay hails his side & fans after Clarke's men stun Spain

Scott McTominay on Tuesday hailed a performance to remember after Scotland stunned former World champions Spain.

Steve Clarke's side stormed to the summit of Group A with six points from a possible six after McTominay scored an international double for the second time in four days.

The biggest scalp for Scotland's national team since a 1-0 win over France, a 2-0 win was also their first win over Spain since Jock Stein was manager in November 1984.

Building on Saturday's 3-0 win over Cyprus, goals early in each half put the Scots in dreamland and sent the Tartan Army home in raptures.

'Look at this place,' said McTominay. 'I've never seen anything like it, incredible.

'The manager said this is our chance to create legacies as Scotland players and these are the nights in 20, 30 years that people remember. We can't thank the fans enough.'

With just one international goal heading into the current campaign McTominay capitalised on a Spanish slip to score after six minutes, adding a second early in the second half.

'We did really really well, we didn't have a lot of the ball but the manager said we had to be clinical when we had the opportunities. I thought we had more than enough opportunities tonight to really hurt them and score some goals.

'As a kid I was an attacking midfield player and I got a bit too big for that but now I'm more of a sitting midfield player but I like to do both like to get in the box. For me I've got to keep doing that and score more goals and assists to my game.'

Norway's 1-1 draw in Georgia left the Scots as the only team with a 100 per cent record in Group A.

Heading to Oslo in June manager Clarke refused to get carried away despite a superb start to the campaign.

'You don't qualify with six points,' said the Scotland boss, 'so we've a long way to go.

'Two good performances over the nine days we've been together.

'All the credit goes to the players. Sixteen players on the pitch and not one let us down.

'Tonight was a chance to put our mark on the group. We want to be competitive against the top team and that's what we did tonight.'

Luis de la Fuente is the first manager to lose his first away game in charge of Spain since Vicente Miera lost a European Championship qualifier in September 1991.

Making eight changes to the team which beat Norway 3-0 on Saturday the frustrated visitors lost for only the sixth time in 69 Euro qualifiers and threatened, at times, to lose the plot.

The last time the Spaniards failed to qualify for a major finals was 1992 and preparing himself for the inevitable criticism coming his way de la Fuente said: 'The game went how we thought it would.

'It was a difficult game, very dense. We had our chances to score. But we didn't finish it. But overall I am happy with what I saw on the pitch. It bodes well for the future.

'It doesn't change our overall plan. There are six matches left so we are going to go for it. We will keep on working.

'Scotland have a very powerful team. They are very strong physically with some good individuals. It is too early to predict the group. There are still six games to go.

'I am not happy, but we can think of the future.'