Messi is the third player to reach 100 national team goals. How many is he short of Ronaldo?

Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick for Curacao last night, becoming only the third player in history to score 100 goals for the national team. However, he still has two more footballers to go.

Before the friendly against Curacao, for whom former Slav player Gino van Kessel used to play, Lionel Messi’s national goal tally was 99.

And he got his 100 very quickly. In the 20th minute he opened the scoring after a pass from Lo Celso with his right foot and scored 100 goals for Argentina.

But he didn’t stop there and scored two more goals before half-time. In the 33rd minute he added a second goal with a shot to the back post and four minutes later he completed his hat-trick after a pass from Lo Celso.

He has now scored 102 goals for Albiceleste. He became only the third player in history to score triple-digit goals for the national team.

In second place is the Iranian Ali Daei, who scored 109 goals in 148 matches between 1993 and 2006. He has the best goals per game average of the three footballers – 0.74.

Messi’s eternal rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, tops the national team’s goalscoring chart. The Portuguese has scored 122 goals in 198 games and therefore has an average of 0.62 goals per game. Messi has racked up his tally in 174 duels, so he has the lowest average – 0.59.

Messi is 20 national team goals behind Ronaldo, but the Portuguese is two years older. But in the current reunion under the new coach, he scored 4 goals and showed why Roberto Martínez continues to count on him even at 38 years old.

Source: UEFA