After firing Argentina to beat Italy and securing the Finalissima trophy, Lionel Messi continued his domination of European teams by inspiring La Albiceleste to a big win over Estonia on Sunday. The 34-year-old striker was at the peak of his powers, scoring all the five goals in the night's victory.
The night began on a good note for Messi as it took him only eight minutes to break the deadlock from the penalty spot. Right on the stroke of half-time he doubled his tally before completing his hat-trick in the 47th minute. The masterclass did not end there as he will score in the 71st and 76th respectively to take the score line to 5-0.
It was the first time in a decade that Messi had managed to score five times in a single football match. The first and only time that had happened was in March 2012 when he helped Barcelona to a 7-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.
With the night's haul, the Paris Saint-Germain superstar took his international goals tally to 86, surpassing the legendary Ferenc Puskas to move into 4th on the all time list. Meanwhile, some hundreds of miles away from Estadio El Sadar, Cristiano Ronaldo had also paid his due to Portugal, grabbing a first half brace in their 4-0 win over Switzerland in the UEFA Nations League group stage encounter.
However, Messi's tally against Estonia brought into perspective his arch-nemesis' performance against the European minnows since making his international debut. At the moment, both players have scored five goals apiece against the Estonians, although Ronaldo has played three more games than the Argentine.
