Topics: Lionel Messi, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, FIFA World Cup
La Pulga reached two brilliant milestones in Argentina's Qatar 2022 opening game irrespective of the unexpected full-time result.

Lionel Messi's 2022 FIFA World Cup run got off to a rollercoaster start!

Argentina, one of the favorites for the title, kicked off their Qatar 2022 campaign on Tuesday as the Copa America winners took to the pitch to face Saudi Arabia in the early kick-off.

To no one's surprise, La Pulga was named in Scaloni's lineup, with the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner captaining La Albiceleste in their opener. And just like that, the PSG superstar made history.

Leo's inclusion in the starting eleven meant that Qatar 2022 officially became his fifth FIFA World Cup appearance, a feat no Argentine has achieved before. In fact, only three other footballers in history achieved this milestone before and only two of those were outfield players, following in the footsteps of Lothar Matthäus (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998) and Rafael Marquez (2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2018).

However, it should be noted that two other players appear destined to join this list and they are Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexico ace Andrés Guardado, both of whom simply need to step on the pitch in order to join Messi.

And that's not all. Given that Leo grabbed Argentina's opening goal in this game, netting from a penalty after only 10 minutes, the Barcelona legend broke another record after kick-off, becoming the first man from his country to score in four different FIFA World Cup tournaments.

Unfortunately for the South American giants, things went sour in the second half. Scaloni's men had three first-half goals ruled out for offside and were made to pay after the break, with the Green Falcons scoring two brilliant goals to grab a shocking 2-1 victory.

This result brought an end to the amazing 36-match unbeaten run by the Argentines, leaving them just one short of equaling Italy's record for the longest unbeaten streak in international football (37).

With that defeat, Messi and Co. head into their two remaining fixtures knowing there is no room for a slip-up. Next up is a showdown with Mexico before a must-win clash with Poland in the final group-stage fixture.