Messi’s birthday: Argentina legend’s top 10 best games for his country as he turns 35

One of Messi’s greatest virtues as a player is that he is not just one of the best in scoring goals, he can also set up his team-mates with ease.

The Copa America Centenario semi-final against hosts United States showed off to perfection those two facets of his game.

Not only did he find the net with an outrageous free-kick effort, he also set up another two goals in a 4-0 rout to send the Albiceleste through to the final.

Qualifying for the World Cup out of the CONMEBOL region, despite Argentina’s relatively simple passage this time round, is almost never a straightforward prospect.

In 2011, the Albiceleste had made a distinctly underwhelming start to their campaign, losing for the first time to Venezuela and then dropping points at home to Bolivia. A visit to Colombia followed, and Alejandro Sabella’s charges feared the worst when Dorlan Pabon fired the hosts in front just before half-time.

Colombia had been well on top before the break but, led by Messi and helped by some savvy tactical changes on Sabella’s part, Argentina came out a different team, levelling through the new national team captain before Sergio Aguero clinched three points seven minutes from time.

Not only did that game put Argentina back on track, but it was also the beginning of Messi, Aguero and Gonzalo Higuain’s partnership up front, a potent trident that would fire them to the brink of World Cup glory within three years.

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More than five years had passed since Messi’s last knockout goal for Argentina when Lionel Scaloni’s men lined up against Ecuador in the quarter-finals of the Copa America. But while he left it late, the strike truly proved worth the wait.

The Barcelona ace had pulled all the strings for his side throughout the game, playing in both Rodrigo De Paul and Lautaro Martinez for their goals to put Argentina 2-0 ahead. Then, in injury time, it looked as though he would have the chance to add his own when Piero Hincapie appeared to commit a penalty on Angel Di Maria.

A VAR check eventually changed the decision, giving Messi a free-kick on the edge of the box. But it did not change the captain’s task much, as he dispatched a glorious effort to notch Argentina’s third and round off a brilliant all-round display.

How different might Messi’s international career have turned out if he could have kept Juan Roman Riquelme by his side a little longer?

The two iconic No.10s formed a glittering partnership for the few short years between Leo’s emergence and Roman’s controversial retirement in 2009 amid rumours of a falling-out with coach Diego Maradona. But they were at least together long enough to give us several unforgettable games.

One of the best was Argentina’s Copa America semi-final demolition of Mexico in 2007, as Messi and Riquelme both got on the scoresheet in a dominant 3-0 win.

The then-Barcelona kid netted his side’s second of the evening, an outrageous chip that ranks among his very best international goals.

While Messi was by no means a disappointment at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, his failure to find the net even once as Argentina reached the quarters was a curious anomaly – one he was desperate to correct once the next finals came around.

In Brazil, therefore, he wasted no time in finding the net during a virtuoso display against Bosnia & Herzegovina in Argentina’s very first game. “I’d had to wait eight years for my second World Cup goal. We wanted to have a great tournament and started off with a win against Bosnia, and I scored our second goal,” he recalled to Four Four Two.

“It all happened very quickly. I picked the ball up near the halfway line and tried to burst towards their penalty area. I played a one-two with Gonzalo Higuain and then shot from the edge of the box. Luckily, it all came off.”

Messi was still eight days short of his 19th birthday when he made his World Cup bow for Argentina, a side packed to the brim with talent under coach Jose Pekerman.

The Albiceleste were already coasting at 3-0 up when the teenager entered the action for Maxi Rodriguez 75 minutes in, but stepped up a gear to add another three before full-time against Serbia and Montenegro and cap one of their greatest ever World Cup performances.

Their new star needed just three minutes to set up Hernan Crespo, and added his own before the end to make it 6-0 with a cool right-footed finish. “It was a beautiful day due to the significance of the occasion – it was the World Cup and it was Argentina’s second match of the tournament,” he later told Four Four Two.

“I was on the bench for the first game against Ivory Coast, but came on for the last 15 minutes against Serbia & Montenegro and scored our sixth goal of the game. Beautiful.”

While it is hard to pick a single moment from his incredible career, there is a solid argument to be made that 2014 World Cup Messi was his finest moment.

The star had already netted in victories against Bosnia & Herzegovina and Iran and celebrated his 27th birthday in Brazil when he turned on the magic again for Argentina’s final group match.

Nigeria pushed Alejandro Sabella’s men hard throughout but just had no answer for Leo, who scored two of his team’s goals to send them through to the last 16 with a perfect record of three wins out of three.

In this ranking priority has been given to competitive international matches over friendlies, for obvious reasons. One of Messi’s performances, though, even if it did not come on the biggest stage, cannot be overlooked.

In 2012, New York’s MetLife Stadium – packed with 80,000 fans – was treated to a Messi masterclass as Argentina squeezed past Brazil in a 4-3 thriller.

The No. 10 scored three of his side’s goals as they downed their arch-rivals, clinching victory with a run from near the halfway line which finished with a wicked long-range shot which gave Selecao goalkeeper Rafael Cabral no chance.

“We’re lucky he’s Argentine,” coach Alejandro Sabella noted after the game, with no little understatement. “We can benefit from that.” Quite.

It might not have been his best match in an Argentina shirt but 2021’s Copa America victory over Brazil finally ended Messi’s wait for international honours, banishing the pain of multiple final defeats.

While Angel Di Maria hit the only goal of the game, once the final whistle blew the entire Albiceleste squad ran to their captain, who broke down in tears of joy and, most likely, pure relief.

Leo had enjoyed a brilliant Copa from the very first game and richly deserved the title, which brought an end to a run of four consecutive losses in tournament deciders.

It appeared an impossible mission.

Argentina arrived at the last game of their lacklustre 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign needing a win to make Russia, away to Ecuador in the daunting altitude of Quito – and to top it all, the already-eliminated hosts went ahead in the first minute to leave Jorge Sampaoli’s men’s hopes hanging by a thread.

That is when Messi decided to make his stand.

The captain blasted an unanswered hat-trick to seal a 3-1 win for the Albiceleste in perhaps his most important performance of all at international level, if not his best outright.