Barcelona captain, Lionel Messi, who many see as the greatest player of all time for his great performances all through his career, especially with his quality goals for the Catalans.
The little genius retired from international duty for the second time after World Cup elimination, last summer. Messi has now returned again, but he did this incredible thing on his return to Argentina training in Madrid.
Following his hat-trick heroics against Betis, Barcelona’s superstar Lionel Messi has linked up with the Argentine squad for the first time since the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Messi 31, has not played for his native Argentina since they suffered defeat at the hands of France in the World Cup round of 16 in Russia. The result ended Lionel Messi’s hopes of winning the World Cup and it also proved to be the end of Jorge Sampaoli reign as Argentina’s manager with Luca Scaloni coming in to replace him.
The former Argentine international has overseen matches against Iran, Brazil and Guatemala. They face Morocco and Venezuela in the latest round of international friendlies. The two matches will serve as preparations for the Copa America holding in Brazil this June. The tournament will probably be Lionel Messi’s last chance to win a trophy for his country after he was on the losing side in the last two editions via a penalty loss to Chile on both occasions.
In the next international tournament, Messi’s international side went out to eventual winners France in the last 16 of the World Cup in Russia. Now the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has returned to international duty after taking a sabbatical. The Argentina superstar scored one goal in four matches in the tournament against Nigeria in a 2-1 victory. The Barcelona forward decided to take a break after his national side were knocked out of the World Cup.
He has missed the last six friendlies in which Lionel Scaloni’s side have won four, drawn one and lost one without him. Argentina face Venezuela on Friday before taking on Morocco the following Tuesday. Scaloni said when he called Messi up: ‘We’ll decide later if he plays one game or two. I will make that decision.’ Messi’s form for his club has been far superior as he is the top scorer in Europe’s top five leagues.
He scored a hat-trick against Real Betis in which he was applauded by the opposition fans for his sensational third goal. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has been in some of the best form of his life this season for Barcelona. He’s notched an astounding 29 goals in La Liga and has registered 12 assists to go along with that. And on Sunday against Real Betis, Messi produced one of his best performances in recent years. Barca won 4-1 and Messi scored a superb hat-trick that saw him score a free-kick before chipping the Betis goalkeeper from the edge of the box.
The goal received plaudits from all across the football world and many saw the goal as reaffirmation of his status as the greatest player of all time. Argentines will be hoping he can replicate his club form for his country – something that he’s been criticised for not doing in the past, despite being Argentina’s all-time top goalscorer. Lionel Messi landed in Madrid to join up with his Argentina team-mates on Monda