With his goal against Canada in the 2024 Copa América Semi-Finals, Lionel Messi surpassed Ali Daei to become the male player with the second most goals at the international level.
Lionel Messi scored 1 goal in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Canada in the 2024 Copa America semi-finals.
Lionel Messi scored the first goal at Copa America 2024. Photo: Copa America
With his goal against Canada in the 2024 Copa America semi-finals on July 10 (Vietnam time), Lionel Messi surpassed Ali Daei to become the second highest scorer of all time in men’s soccer at the international level.
The Argentine superstar’s goal in the 51st minute was his 109th goal in a La Albiceleste shirt. Besides ensuring the opportunity to defend the Copa America championship, Messi’s efforts helped him surpass the Iranian football legend with 1 more goal.
However, Messi will have to score 21 more goals in the national team shirt to surpass Cristiano Ronaldo’s tally of 130 for Portugal.
Messi’s close-range finish was the first goal he scored at Copa America 2024 and the 14th goal in the history of participating in this tournament.
Before going ahead, Messi equaled Daei’s achievement on the all-time scoring list with a double in a 4-1 victory over Guatemala right before the opening day of the Copa America in the US.
Besides rising in the scoring rankings, Messi also broke another record in this year’s tournament with a milestone appearance in his debut match.
In his 35th appearance in 7 Copa America editions, the Inter Miami star broke the record that had belonged to Chilean goalkeeper Sergio Livingstone since 1953. Messi first appeared in South America’s top tournament in 2007.
While Messi holds second place behind his Portuguese rival, India’s Sunil Chhetri ranks behind Daei with 93 goals for the “Blue Tigers”. Meanwhile, Mokhtar Dahari of Malaysia entered the Top 5 with 89 goals.
In both men’s and women’s soccer, Canada’s Christine Sinclair holds the all-time scoring record with 190 goals in 328 international appearances.
After winning the 2021 Copa America, Messi led Argentina to win the FIFA World Cup in Qatar the following year.
His achievements currently include 186 caps, 109 goals and 56 assists.
While aiming for his third trophy with the national team, Messi also has an Olympic gold medal, which he won with the Argentina U23 team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
