Lionel Messi continued to write new chapters in his legendary career just days before the start of the 2026 World Cup, returning to action for Argentina and scoring a historic goal during a 3-0 friendly victory over Iceland.<\/p>\n
There were doubts regarding the fitness of the *Albiceleste* captain following an injury sustained with Inter Miami in the final MLS match before the international break. However, Messi quickly proved his readiness with an impactful performance at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Alabama, USA, before a crowd exceeding 88,000 spectators.<\/p>\n
The 38-year-old came on as a substitute in the 70th minute, with Argentina leading 1-0 thanks to an early goal by Valent\u00edn Barco in the 8th minute. Messi needed less than a minute to leave his mark on the game.<\/p>\n
Moments after entering the pitch, he delivered a precise pass to Lautaro Mart\u00ednez, who was fouled inside the box. Argentina was awarded a penalty, which Messi successfully converted to score the second goal.<\/p>\n
This was no ordinary goal for the Argentine star; he became the oldest player to ever score for the Argentina national team at the age of 38 years, 11 months, and 18 days, surpassing the previous record held by the legend \u00c1ngel Labruna.<\/p>\n
Messi also contributed to the build-up of the third goal, exchanging passes with Rodrigo De Paul before Thiago Almada finished the move into the back of the net, sealing the 3-0 win for Argentina.<\/p>\n
After the final whistle, the match witnessed a lighthearted moment that drew attention when Messi was approached by Icelandic forward Dan\u00edel Gu\u00f0johnsen, who informed him that he is the son of Messi\u2019s former Barcelona teammate, Ei\u00f0ur Gu\u00f0johnsen.<\/p>\n
Revealing details of the conversation after the match, Messi said: “He asked me if I remembered him, then told me he was Gu\u00f0johnsen\u2019s son. Honestly, I was surprised because he was so small when I used to see him with his father at Barcelona training sessions.”<\/p>\n
Messi played alongside Ei\u00f0ur Gu\u00f0johnsen for three seasons at Barcelona, where they both participated in achieving the historic treble during the 2008-2009 season.<\/p>\n
Argentina is now preparing to begin its title defense, opening its 2026 World Cup campaign against Algeria on June 17th.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lionel Messi continued to write new chapters in his legendary career just days before the start of the 2026 World Cup, returning to action for Argentina and scoring a historic goal during a 3-0 friendly victory over Iceland. There were doubts regarding the fitness of the *Albiceleste* captain following an injury sustained with Inter Miami […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":21035,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,5],"tags":[47,36,22,63],"class_list":["post-21034","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-video","category-h-barcelona-english","tag-47","tag-36","tag-22","tag-63"],"yoast_head":"\n