Not Pele, Messi is South America’s ‘Highest Goal Scorer’
With a hat-trick against Bolivia, Messi also surpassed former teammate and longtime friend Luis Suarez to become the leading scorer in Conmebol’s men's World Cup qualifiers
In his recent appearance, Argentine footballer Lionel Messi did a hat-trick to give Argentina a 3-0 win over Bolivia in a World Cup qualifier and broke the record of Pele as the top goal scorer of South America.
Messi also surpassed former teammate and longtime friend Luis Suarez to become the leading scorer in Conmebol’s men’s World Cup qualifiers.
Messi got the opener after 14 minutes in Buenos Aires, he made it 2-0 in the 64th minute and then completed his hat-trick within the last 2 minutes.
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Messi’s 77th, 78th, and 79th goals marked his 7th hat-trick for the national side and took him above Pele in the South American scoring charts.
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick whilst putting on a show vs Bolivia.
He also became the top goalscorer in South American international football history last night.pic.twitter.com/Q7JmgPW98o
— Caño Football (@CanoFootball) September 10, 2021
“I’ve waited a long time for this, I went for it, and I dreamt about it. It’s a unique moment for the way it came about, after waiting so long”, he said.
Messi is the only single opponent, donning the Argentina shirt with 8 career goals vs Bolivia in 11 games.
Argentina is in second spot after Brazil in the 10-team qualifying group for FIFA World Cup in Qatar in 2022.
The top four teams qualify automatically while 5th team goes into an inter-regional playoff.
