Generous gentleman Lionel Messi. Nearly thirty times in his career he has bagged a hat-trick. The Inter star publicly thanks him

Argentina will kick off the Copa América in a week’s time with a tough match against Canada. But before that, Lionel Messi and co. showed up in a dress rehearsal against Guatemala. The winner of eight Ballon d’Ors put in an outstanding performance and showed great character. Once again, he voluntarily took a hat-trick.

The reigning world champions have had a successful dress rehearsal for the upcoming Copa América. In their last preparatory match, they defeated Guatemala 4-1 without much difficulty, with captain Lionel Messi playing a huge part.

The eight Ballon d’Or winner scored two goals and had one assist. He could have done better. But he gave away the penalty, which was converted by Argentina, to one of his teammates. Namely Lautaro Martínez, the Inter Milan star.

Martínez was able to convert the penalty kick, which allowed him to get into a better game less than a week before the start of the South American championship. As soon as he scored, he thanked his captain on the pitch.

But he didn’t stop there. Messi also received a public thank you from his compatriot. However, it must be mentioned that this is not the first time Lionel has done something like this in his career.

Messi could have had almost 30 more hat-tricks

Still only 26-years-old, Lautaro Martínez thanked the Argentine legend after the match in front of reporters: “I looked at him and he gave me the penalty. I thanked him and I want to thank him publicly. It’s a gesture of a great gentleman on and off the pitch. It means a lot to me.”

But as already mentioned, Lionel Messi has made several similar gestures in his career. He has always been considerate of his teammates and has never been selfish. According to several sites, he has already awarded his teammates a penalty on 27 occasions when he could have completed a hat-trick. So he could have had 27 more hat-tricks.

This is why he is second only to Cristiano Ronaldo in the number of hat-tricks. He has 57. Compared to Ronaldo, he has more without taking a penalty.

On 21 June, Messi will start a more important mission than that in his quest for hat-tricks. He wants to lead Argentina to another major trophy.

Source: Goal, Transfermarkt, X