Lionel Messi has broken two records, previously set by Diego Maradona, following Argentina's 2-1 victory over Australia in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup on Saturday.
The Paris Saint-Germain star made his 1,000th career appearance at the Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, as well as his 100th as captain of Argentina, and he opened the scoring in the 35th minute when he placed a curling left-footed strike into the bottom corner.
Julian Alvarez then capitalised on a Mathew Ryan mistake to role the ball into an empty net just before the hour mark, and although an Enzo Fernandez own goal gave Australia hope of a late comeback, the two-time world champions held on to progress to the last eight.
Messi, who was named Man of the Match, has now scored a total of 94 international goals for Argentina, including nine at the World Cup, with his strike against Australia his first in the knockout rounds of the tournament.
The 35-year-old has now become Argentina's second-highest scorer at the World Cup, surpassing global icon Maradona and Guillermo Stabile, who both netted eight times for their country.
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Messi is now just one behind Argentina's most prolific World Cup scorer Gabriel Batistuta, who scored 10 times in 12 appearances on the biggest international stage between 1994 and 2002.
The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner has also surpassed Maradona as Argentina's most-capped player at the World Cup, with his outing against Australia the 22nd time that he has represented his country in the competition.
In addition, Messi has notched up 169 international appearances in total for Argentina and has become the most-capped South American footballer of all time, surpassing the previous record set by Ecuador's Ivan Hurtado (168).
Across all competitions for club and country, Messi has now recorded a remarkable 789 goals and 338 assists in 1,000 games since his professional debut for former club Barcelona back in 2003.
Speaking to @Argentina after the win over Australia, Messi said: "It was a controlled match, I think we could have sentenced it. It was a very physical game. Very happy for this victory and to take another step.
"They are incredible sensations; it's crazy to share such a great moment of happiness with people. We know the effort they made to come here. We also thank those who encourage us from our country".
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"We had the desire and the illusion of getting back together with our people. The energy and passion that they transmit to us is incredible."
"My family is always present, my children especially because they are grown up and understand everything. Today seeing them from the inside how they feel and how they live is spectacular. They are excited and happy".
Messi added: "I found out today that it was the 1,000th match. I live in the moment, I enjoy what we're going through and I'm happy to take one more step, to get through to the quarter-finals."
"We're going to have a very tough match-up (against the Netherlands), I think it's going to be very difficult, they're going to want to get the ball out of us. At this point the World Cup is getting even tougher."
After being eliminated in the last 16 by current world champions France four years ago in Russia, Argentina have gone one step further in Qatar this year and Lionel Scaloni's side have kept their dreams of winning their first World Cup since 1986 alive.
La Albiceleste will now prepare for next Friday's quarter-final tie against three-time World Cup runners up the Netherlands, who beat USA 3-1 earlier on Saturday.
Oliver Thomas
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