Combo file photographs that show the Argentine player Lionel Messi raising the Copa América 2021 at the Maracaná Stadium, playing a match at the U20 World Cup in the Netherlands and kissing the Catar 2022 World Cup. As an absolute leader of all statistics: no one like him played so many games, scored so many goals or provided so many assists in the Albiceleste.
Photo: EFE – Archive
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After 20 years of his debut in the Argentine National Team, Lionel Messi arrives at his last official game at home – this Thursday against Venezuela for the penultimate date of the South American Qualifiers of the 2026 World Cup – as an absolute leader of all statistics: no one like him played so many games, he scored so many goals or provided so many assists in the albiceleste.
With a balance of 112 goals and 59 assists in 193 official matches with La Celeste and Blanca, the Rosario star far exceeded the last great '10 ′, Diego Armando Maradona, but also to legends such as Gabriel Batistuta and ex -partner as Ángel Di María and Javier Mascherano.
19 years ago, on June 29, 2004, all Spain's attempts to convince Messi to play for them were buried forever. Lionel debuted in the sub 20 Argentina in a friendly with Paraguay only armed to shield it.
We open thread with several party data pic.twitter.com/Nt9jYRtCeT– Too bad anyone, teacher (@a_lastima) June 29, 2023
On August 16, 2005, a little more than two decades ago, Messi replaced Lisandro López in the 64th minute to travel his first seconds in the absolute team, under the orders of José Pekerman, in a friendly against Hungary, a match of which the current coach, Lionel Scaloni was also part.
'Leo' arrived with the best perspectives after being decisive in the Argentine triumph in the U-20 World Cup of that same year, but that match in Budapest was not auspicious: with the Dorsal 18 on the back he was expelled a minute later by a blow to a rival while trying his first dribble.
Pekerman was fundamental for that boy who dazzled from a very young age in Barcelona dressed in Albiceleste, thanks to a call for a friendly improvised of a youth selected against Paraguay that aimed to retain the nascent star – 17 years old recently completed – and prevent him from being claimed by the Spanish team.
His first goal came in 2006, with few 19 years in a friendly against Croatia, and that same year he integrated the squad that played the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where he scored a goal against Serbia and Montenegro and was last considered as an alternative from the bench.
A new anniversary of Messi's debut in World Cups is fulfilled. That day he attended and turned 16 'vs Serbia and Montenegro.
After playing 5 editions he managed to be champion, twice MVP and the Argentine player with more games and goals. Next to nothing.pic.twitter.com/0QRVo2F8UA
– Messismo (@Messismo10) June 16, 2023
From there, it became the fundamental piece of each Argentine team that tried for years to break the drought that stalked the albiceleste since the triumph in the 1993 Copa América.
Since then, Argentina is in its 'era Messi': playing well or badly, for its presences or absences, everything that happens in the selected orbit around it.
The 'Flea' adds 193 presences, well above the already retired Javier Mascherano (147) and Ángel Di María (145), while the closest activity is Nicolás Otamendi (126).
In Catar 2022 he surpassed the German Lothar Matthäus as the player who played the most matches in World Cups (26) and also became the Argentine with more goals in World Cups (13), above Gabriel Batistuta (10) and Diego Armando Maradona (8).
Messi also holds the record of having been the youngest Argentine player to reach 100 games, in 2015, with 27 years. The 112 goals he reaped with his selected duplicate his immediate pursuer in that category, Batistuta, which recorded 54, and are close to tripling the third, Sergio 'Kun' Agüero (41).
The current Argentine captain scored ten doubles, seven hat-tricks, 11 goals free, and even scored five goals in a single game: 5-0 victory against Estonia during the preparation for Qatar 2022.
He is also the Argentine player who played the most finals with his selection: two for World Cups (Brazil 2014 and Catar 2022) and five for America Cups (Venezuela 2007, Chile 2015, United States 2016, Brazil 2021 and the United States 2024).
In a constant pilgrimage from one side to the other of the Atlantic Ocean and in such dissimilar locations as Libya or China, the '10 ′ sought for 16 years to raise a trophy that at times seemed impossible, until that final of Copa América at the Maracaná stadium in Rio de Janeiro, in 2021, when his friend Di Maria against Brazil came out a debt of football with one of his best performers.
From there, and at the cusp of his professional maturity, Messi had only joys: final 2022 against Italy; World Championship in Catar 2022, with double in the final against France and Gold Boot included; and another Copa América in the United States against Colombia, with a battered ankle and tears.
In sum, the Argentine Captain will celebrate this Thursday in Buenos Aires, before Venezuela and whatever the result, a first closure of the history of devotion and love for his selection, after hundreds of screams of goal, but also of many adversities and painful defeats before which, to the joy of an entire country, he never surrendered.
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