Lionel Messi's effortless highlights in 5-goal masterclass for Argentina vs Estonia | OneFootball

Lionel Messi was at his dazzling best during Argentina’s 5-0 demolition job against Estonia on Sunday night.

On the back of a disappointing first season at Paris Saint-Germain where he only amassed six league goals, Messi gave the world an emphatic reminder of his magnificence in the friendly annihilation.

That’s because the 34-year-old casually helped himself to all five goals in Pamplona, Spain, for the joint-highest single game haul of his illustrious career.

Messi hits Estonia for five

The only previous time that Messi had amassed a quintet of goals came in his record-breaking calendar year of 2012 where he smashed five strikes past Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

And while a friendly against the team ranked 110th in the world doesn’t quite lay a glove on that achievement, the reality of the situation is that scoring five goals against any opponent is worthy of applause.

In fact, the fourth goal of Messi’s rout was even enough to secure a memorable piece of history, moving him above Ferenc Puskas as the fourth-highest goalscorer in men’s international football.

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A superb performance across the board

However, as is typical with Messi, the beauty of his performance wasn’t limited to the goals with the PSG star picking up from where he left off in the Finalissima triumph over Italy.

Just as he had done against the Euro 2020 champions at Wembley Stadium, the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner strutted around the pitch spraying inch-perfect passes and leaving defenders in his dust.

The data gurus over at FotMob awarded Messi with a menacing 9.8 match rating as he helped himself to six successful dribbles, three chances created, 10 total shots and a total of 121 touches.

And to make things even better, Messi was dispossessed a grand total of zero times. Madness.

Messi’s individual highlights

As such, it should come as absolutely no surprise that Messi’s individual highlights make for quite the watch with five goals interspersed between the magic we always come to expect from him.

So, be sure to check out Messi tearing Estonia apart in full by watching his best bits down below:

Fan reaction

Sit back and appreciate his magic

Appreciate him while he’s here, folks.

While, yes, suggestions that Messi is officially on the decline were most certainly overstated after his season at the Parc des Princes, there’s no denying that he’s entering the final stages of his career.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see the Argentine icon kicking on during his second year in Paris, but where he will go upon the expiration of his contract either in 2023 and 2024 is a different matter entirely.

Fans will have to keep their fingers crossed that Messi will be killing it at the highest level in his late thirties just as Cristiano Ronaldo is doing, but we can’t afford to be presumptive and complacent.

As such, be sure to celebrate every last Messi masterclass to come out of the next few years because you’ll know never when it’ll be his last.

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