Liónel Messi passed Ali Āaei of Iran as the second-highest scorer in the history of men’s international football with his goal in the Copa America semifinals against Guatemala.

The Argentine scored his 109th goal for La Albiceleste in the 51st minute. Not only did the 2-0 win give Argentina a chance to protect their Copa America title, it also put Messi one goal ahead of the Iranian legend.

Messi, on the other hand, only needs 21 more goals for his country to beat Cristiano Ronaldo’s record of 130 goals for Portugal. Messi scored his 14th goal of the game and his first goal of the 2023 Copa America with a sloppy shot from close range.

Before the start of the Copa America in the US, Messi scored twice in a 4-1 win over Guatemala, tying Daei for the most goals ever scored.

Messi set a new championship record by playing in his 100th game in the first game. He also moved up in the scoring charts.

The great goalie for Inter Miami beat Sergio Livingstone’s record of 35 games played in seven tournaments, which Livingstone had held since 1953. In 2007, the year the coming legend was born, he competed for the first time.

Sunil Chhetri of India has scored 93 goals for the Blue Tigers, which is second only to Daei and ahead of Messi, the famous player from Portugal. Mokhtar Dahari from Malaysia rounds out the top five with 89 goals.

Christine Sinclair of Canada holds the record for most goals scored in a single women’s and men’s tournament, with 190 in 328 international games. Argentina won the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, led by Messi. This was the year after they won the Copa America.

He has played for his country 186 times, scored 109 goals, and set a new record with 56 assists.

Messi is trying to win his third senior team title. He is also very proud of the gold medal he won with Argentina’s U-23 team at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.