Argentine's Lionel Messi has expressed excitement at the new record he set when he scored one of the four goals that helped his side progress to the final of the Copa America for the second time in one year.
The Barcelona forward attributed his success to his teammates who have been supportive all along, saying the record is all because of them.
Messi scored one out of the four goals that sank USA at home, while he provided two assists in the game.
"I’m happy, but I’m also grateful to my team-mates, to all of them I’ve played with lately. This record is down to them too," said Messi at the end of the match in Houston, where more than 70,000 saw him reach his milestone. Just for good measure, he also chipped in with a couple of assists.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Batistuta, whose record was broken, said "Now Leo’s going to take it from me, I have to say it hurts a little bit. It’s not just any old player who’s moving past me though. It’s going to someone who is out of this world and that makes me feel a little bit better."
Messi opened his Argentina account on 1 March 2006, in winning his sixth cap in a friendly against Croatia in the Swiss city of Basel. In all, he has taken 112 matches to beat Batistuta’s record, scoring an average of 0.49 goals per game in that time. Bati took 77 games to score his 54 goals, equating to a higher average of 0.70 per match.
Batistuta, who played his last game for his country against Sweden in the group phase at Korea/Japan 2002, a game that saw Argentina tumble out of the competition, does have something that Messi yearns for however: international titles. As well as winning the Copa America in 1991 and 1993, he also picked up a FIFA Confederations Cup winners medal in 1992.
In contrast La Pulga has played in and lost three finals: two in the Copa America, in 2007 and 2015, and the Final at Brazil 2014, where he collected a bittersweet adidas Golden Ball.
"The objective when we got here was to reach another final and we’ve achieved that," replied Messi.
"We’ve done things right since day one and we deserve to be there. I hope we don’t let it slip now. We’re excited at the prospect of it finally coming our way. We deserve it for all the work we’ve done over the last few years." FIFA
The Barcelona forward attributed his success to his teammates who have been supportive all along, saying the record is all because of them.
Messi scored one out of the four goals that sank USA at home, while he provided two assists in the game."I’m happy, but I’m also grateful to my team-mates, to all of them I’ve played with lately. This record is down to them too," said Messi at the end of the match in Houston, where more than 70,000 saw him reach his milestone. Just for good measure, he also chipped in with a couple of assists.
Meanwhile, Gabriel Batistuta, whose record was broken, said "Now Leo’s going to take it from me, I have to say it hurts a little bit. It’s not just any old player who’s moving past me though. It’s going to someone who is out of this world and that makes me feel a little bit better."
Messi opened his Argentina account on 1 March 2006, in winning his sixth cap in a friendly against Croatia in the Swiss city of Basel. In all, he has taken 112 matches to beat Batistuta’s record, scoring an average of 0.49 goals per game in that time. Bati took 77 games to score his 54 goals, equating to a higher average of 0.70 per match.
Batistuta, who played his last game for his country against Sweden in the group phase at Korea/Japan 2002, a game that saw Argentina tumble out of the competition, does have something that Messi yearns for however: international titles. As well as winning the Copa America in 1991 and 1993, he also picked up a FIFA Confederations Cup winners medal in 1992.
In contrast La Pulga has played in and lost three finals: two in the Copa America, in 2007 and 2015, and the Final at Brazil 2014, where he collected a bittersweet adidas Golden Ball.
"The objective when we got here was to reach another final and we’ve achieved that," replied Messi.
"We’ve done things right since day one and we deserve to be there. I hope we don’t let it slip now. We’re excited at the prospect of it finally coming our way. We deserve it for all the work we’ve done over the last few years." FIFA
I’m Grateful To My Teammates; Lionel Messi On New Argentina Goal Record
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