Argentina captain Lionel Messi has scored 800 official career goals by scoring in a friendly against Panama at the Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires. The 35-year-old footballer scored 800 goals in his 1,017 professional matches, a formidable average of 0.79 goals per game. The Argentine captain's last goal came with a left-footed free-kick in the left corner after 88 minutes, and after two crossbars hit during the game.
The Argentine champion has scored 474 goals in La Liga as a Barcelona player, 19 with the PSG shirt in Ligue 1, 71 goals in domestic cups for both clubs, another 137 in international cups and 99 goals for the national team.
Messi's goal sparked celebrations in the stands of a packed Monumental stadium of more than 83,000 spectators, in a match against Panama that was essentially a celebration of winning the World Cup last December.
At the end of the match, an awards ceremony similar to that of Qatar took place and, before lifting the precious World Cup, Messi addressed the spectators. "Thank you for the love we have been receiving since before we won this Cup. As we said, we would have done anything to win it. Personally, I have always dreamed of this moment, to celebrate with you, to come to Argentina and to win a Copa America, the final and the most important thing, the World Cup," Messi said.
The captain spoke to an ecstatic crowd, adding that "today is our day and we are all celebrating, but I don't want to forget my teammates who did everything to win this Cup and unfortunately it didn't happen. They also deserve respect and recognition", in reference to the second place obtained in Brazil 2014.
"Let's keep doing what we're doing, let's enjoy it," added the Argentine champion. "It took a long time to win this cup. Let's hope it doesn't take many years to win it again. It's very
difficult to win a World Cup, sometimes it's not possible because of details. Let's enjoy this third star", concluded the Argentine champion in front of a moving ovation.