Messi’s flying start torches records as Ronaldo calls him GOAT
A hat-trick, tears, and a shattered international mark—Argentina’s World Cup 2026 launch was vintage Messi. Now the GOAT debate has a new entry on the stat sheet.
Lionel Messi didn’t just open Argentina’s World Cup 2026 qualifying campaign—he detonated it, scoring a hat-trick, setting a new international scoring record, and drawing a public concession from Cristiano Ronaldo that the GOAT debate is over. The 36-year-old superstar produced a vintage performance in Argentina’s 4-0 demolition of Paraguay in Buenos Aires on September 7, 2025, netting three goals in the first half alone. His first, a 12th-minute strike, broke Ronaldo’s long-standing record of 128 international goals.
