Lionel Messi is an Argentine professional footballer who has represented the Argentina national football team as a forward since his debut in 2005. Since then, Messi has scored 102 goals in 174 international appearances, making him the country's all-time top scorer; he surpassed Gabriel Batistuta's record of 54 goals with a free kick against the United States in the semi-final of the Copa América Centenario on 21 June 2016. He also holds the record for most goals by a South American male, surpassing Pelé‘s 77 goals with a hat-trick against Bolivia in September 2021. Messi made his debut for Argentina in a 2–1 away win over Hungary on 17 August 2005, and scored his first international goal a year later in his sixth appearance, against Croatia.

Messi's goal against Serbia and Montenegro, on 16 June 2006, at the age of 18 years and 357 days, made him the youngest-ever scorer for Argentina at a FIFA World Cup. He has scored nine international hat-tricks, and has netted twice in a match on ten occasions. In a June 2022 friendly against Estonia, Messi scored five goals in a match for Argentina for the first time. Out of all his opponents, Messi has scored the most against Bolivia, netting eight goals in total.
What are some highlights of Lionel Messi's career goals?
He is his country's all-time top scorer with 102 goals in 174 international appearances. He also is the South American male with most goals, surpassing Pelé's 77 goals. He also was the youngest-ever scorer for Argentina at a Fifa World Cup. He has scored nine international hat-tricks, and scored five times in a match for Argentina for the first time against Estonia in June 2022.