LIONEL Messi in the early hours of Friday became the top scoring player in the history of South American international men’s football.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward scored all three goals in Argentina’s 3-0 home win against Bolivia in their Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier.
With the hat-trick, Messi’s national team goals tally went up to 79, two more than Pele’s 77, which had been the most on the continent since the 1970s.
Messi, 34, scored once in the first half and twice more in the second half as Argentina eased to victory and cemented their second position in the South American qualifiers with 18 points from eight matches, six points behind flawless leaders Brazil, who are yet to drop a point.
The Argentina captain’s PSG teammate Neymar was also on the scoresheet on Friday morning, netting one of the goals in the 2-0 home win over Peru as Brazil maintain their 100 percent record in the qualifiers.
Neymar is the third highest scorer in South American men’s international football with 69 goals.
In the other World Cup qualifier played in South America on Friday morning, hosts Colombia defeated Chile 3-1 to go up to fifth place in the 10-team table with 13 points from nine matches.
World Cup regulars Chile are in danger of missing out on Qatar 2022 as they are eighth in the table with just seven points from nine matches.
The top five teams at the end of the campaign will qualify for the World Cup.
