The Argentine has been banging in the goals for his country ever since opening his account in 2005
Lionel Messi is not just one of the best creators of chances around in the game, but he is lethal in front of goal himself as well.
The Paris Saint-Germain star is Argentina’s all-time leading goal scorer by some distance and holds numerous other goalscoring records, both at club and international level.
For the national team, it all started with a tumultuous debut appearance against Hungary in 2005, with Messi receiving a red card barely a minute after coming off the bench.
That was merely a blip on his journey to greatness, though, and the forward got his first Argentina goal at senior level in a 3-2 friendly loss against Croatia the following year.
That turned out to be start of an impressive goalscoring run and Messi has since been able to celebrate goals more or less wherever he went.
Just how many strikes does the Barcelona legend have to his name, though, and in which competitions did he find the net the most often?
Lionel Messi’s total Argentina goals
Competition
Games
Goals
World Cup
23
9
Copa America
34
13
World Cup qualification
60
28
Finalissima
1
0
International friendlies
51
44
169
94
How many goals has Lionel Messi scored at the World Cup?
Edition
Games
Goals
2006 World Cup
3
1
2010 World Cup
5
0
2014 World Cup
7
4
2018 World Cup
4
1
2022 World Cup
4
3
23
9
Lionel Messi’s Copa America record
Edition
Games
Goals
Copa America 2007
6
2
Copa America 2011
4
0
Copa America 2015
6
1
Copa America Centenario 2016
5
5
Copa America 2019
6
1
Copa America 2021
7
4
34
13
World Cup qualification goals
Edition
Goals
2010 World Cup qualifiers
4
2014 World Cup qualifiers
10
2018 World Cup qualifiers
7
2022 World Cup qualifiers
7
28
Messi in the Finalissima
Edition
Fixture
Goals
2022
Italy 0-3 Argentina
0
Messi’s friendly goals for Argentina
Games
Goals
51
44
Messi Argentina hat-tricks
Match
Goals
Competition
Date
Switzerland 1-3 Argentina
3
Friendly
February 29, 2012
Brazil 3-4 Argentina
3
Friendly
June 9, 2012
Argentina 4-0 Guatemala
3
Friendly
June 14, 2013
Argentina 5-0 Panama
3
Copa America Centenario
June 10, 2016
Ecuador 1-3 Argentina
3
World Cup qualifiers
October 10, 2017
Argentina 4-0 Haiti
3
Friendly
May 29, 2018
Argentina 3-0 Bolivia
3
World Cup qualifiers
September 9, 2021
Argentina 5-0 Estonia
5
Friendly
June 5, 2022
Messi’s favourite opponents
Team
Goals
Bolivia
8
Ecuador
6
Uruguay
6
Brazil
5
Chile
5
Estonia
5
Paraguay
5
Venezuela
5
Mexico4
Colombia
3
Guatemala
3
Haiti
3
Nigeria
3
Panama
3
Switzerland
3
*Data accurate as of December 4
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