INTERNATIONAL: Fans in Buenos Aires were excited to see their favourite player, Lionel Messi, back home for Thursday night’s World Cup Qualifier and they weren’t disappointed. Argentina notched up a 3-0 win over Bolivia and Messi became South America’s top goal-scorer of all time.

The night certainly belonged to Messi at the Monumental de Núnez Stadium in Buenos Aires. Fans were excited to watch Argentina’s first home-game since the pandemic, and were expecting to see Lionel Messi put in a brilliant performance, but even he couldn’t have expected it would have been so brilliant.

Just 14 minutes after kick, he opened the game with his first goal, scored his second in the 64th minute and then bagged a hat-trick with just two minutes left on the clock. The three goals gave the Argentinian captain two more goals than the mighty Pele on the South American scoring chart.

Argentina remain in second place behind Brazil in the 10-team qualifying group. The top four teams will automatically qualify for Qatar 2022.