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• Messi hits 800th goal and tells Argentina to milk their moment of World Cup fever

  Lionel Messi struck the 800th goal of his remarkable career and lifted the World Cup trophy one more time in Buenos Aires, telling all of Argentina to enjoy this footballing prosperity while it lasts.

  His landmark strike came in a 2-0 friendly win against Panama on Thursday at El Monumental, as Argentina played their first game since triumphing at Qatar 2022.

  They showed off their World Cup spoils after the final whistle, with Messi addressing the crowd and saying it was a moment he had dreamt of throughout his life.

  Messi, who turns 36 in June, delivered another inspired performance for his country, hitting the crossbar with two free kicks before sending another into the top corner in the 89th minute.

  That brought up the 800 for club and country and sealed Argentina's win, after Thiago Almada bagged the opener in the 78th minute. It was also Messi's 99th goal for Argentina.

  With a microphone in his right hand, and his left placed on the trophy, Messi told the crowd: "I want to thank you for all the love we are receiving, not just for winning the World Cup but from before, when we won the Copa America.

  "I always dreamed of this moment, being able to celebrate with you in this country. Let's enjoy it because we spent a long time to win it, and because you don't know how long it will take until we win it again. Let's enjoy the third star."

  Paris Saint-Germain's former Barcelona star won the Golden Ball at the World Cup for his efforts in captaining Argentina to glory. That is the trophy awarded to the player of the tournament.

  Argentina won the World Cup previously in 1978 and 1986, with a 36-year wait coming to an end when La Albiceleste beat France on penalties in the December 18 final, after a 3-3 draw.

  Messi will almost certainly have retired from international duty by the time the next World Cup rolls around in 2026, marking the end of a storied era.

  He was keen to spread the latest acclaim throughout the Argentina ranks.

  "I know that today is our day, but I don't want to forget all those colleagues I had before, who also did everything possible to get this one, and unfortunately it didn't happen to us, we were very close," he said. "They also deserve respect and recognition.

  "We were going to do everything we could for this. I always dreamed of this moment, being able to come to my country and lift the World Cup. It was shown that it is very difficult to achieve this, it depends on many things. Sometimes due to small details it gets away from you.”

• Messi scores 800th career goal – Opta numbers behind the GOAT's latest landmark

  Another week, another landmark for Lionel Messi as the Argentina superstar scored his 800th career goal in Thursday's friendly against Panama.

  It's been an almighty journey for the all-time great, who has basically won everything on offer and claimed a record haul of seven Ballons d'Or along the way.

  The player regarded by many as the greatest ever, Messi reached his latest milestone with a picture-perfect free kick in the 89th minute against Panama, curling one into the top corner after crashing two prior free kicks into the crossbar.

  Although Messi hits new landmarks so frequently, at the age of 35 he is approaching a point where such achievements will become a little rarer.

  With that in mind, it's worth celebrating Messi and his feats while we still can – therefore, Stats Perform has delved into the Opta data behind his latest accomplishment.

  On the receiving end

  It's nearly 18 years since Messi's first goal in professional football. Then a floppy-haired 17-year-old, he latched on to a Ronaldinho pass before lifting a clever lob over Albacete goalkeeper Raul Valbuena on May 1, 2005.

  That goal has since become famous given its significance in marking the arrival of Messi – it also left a mark on the career of Valbuena.

  "The press calls me every time he's broken a record or achieved something important, especially press from Catalonia," he told Marca nine years later. "To me, it's a funny anecdote in my career as a goalkeeper."

  Well, it's all right for some. Many goalkeepers have had to contend with Messi smashing past them a few more times than Valbuena's single concession.

  In total, 232 goalkeepers had let in a goal against Messi before Thursday. No one conceded more than Diego Alves, however, with the Brazilian beaten 21 times. Iker Casillas is a close second (19).

  Returning the favour

  Of course, over his career Messi has also become synonymous with creativity, routinely setting up goals for his team-mates.

  But, given how many he's scored, he's also had to benefit from plenty of service from his colleagues as well – when he's not doing it all himself.

  There are several players with whom he's struck up particularly effective on-pitch relationships.

  For years, his combination with Dani Alves was unrivalled, the Brazilian setting up 42 of Messi's goals, but then along came Luis Suarez.

  Suarez, Messi and Neymar were a revered and feared front three, their understanding on the pitch so deadly. The Uruguayan ended up assisting 47 goals for Messi across their six years together, with no one else teeing him up more often.

  Messi also has his favourite clubs to score against. Impressively, Real Madrid (26) are right up there – but there are four teams he has punished more.

  Athletic Bilbao (29), Valencia (31) and Atletico Madrid (32) all struggled against him, but if there has been one team who have resembled lambs to the slaughter when facing Messi, it's Sevilla (38).

  Heights few have reached

  The world of football numbers can be a little muddy. What constitutes an official goal? What's an official competition?

  As such, there has been lots of confusion regarding the 'official' goals hauls of players down the years – we're looking at you, Pele and Romario.

  The International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) considers Cristiano Ronaldo to be the world record holder, stating in December 2021 that the Portugal forward was the first player to reach 800 official career goals.

  This makes Messi the second to reach that figure, with Opta corroborating his career record. There remains a possibility he will eventually reach 1,000. No one is expecting him to get there soon, though.

  After all, as good as he remains, achievements like scoring 91 times in a calendar year – as he managed in 2012 – appear to be beyond him these days.

  That was his best ever year, which – perhaps unsurprisingly – coincided with his most prolific season (2011-12), when he scored 82 goals.

  Still, the 35 goals he plundered in 2022 wasn't a bad return, especially given that haul included seven en route to World Cup success with Argentina.

  Still to come?

  There aren't many records at Barcelona that don't already belong to Messi. Top scorer? Done. Most appearances? Completed it. The most-photographed person at Camp Nou? Probably.

  It seems unlikely Messi will be around at PSG long enough to have the same kind of impact there, but he certainly still has career targets in sight.

  There's the aforementioned 1,000 goals landmark, though before then he will have his eyes on more international achievements.

  Messi's free kick to seal Thursday's 2-0 win left him just one from reaching 100 with Argentina, and after that he'll perhaps have designs on usurping both Ali Daei (109) and Ronaldo (120), the two highest-scoring players in men's international football.

  Similarly, with Ronaldo now out of the way in Saudi Arabia, Messi could also take his record for the most Champions League goals (140) – Messi is on 129.

  But regardless of what else he does or doesn't go on to achieve, Thursday's milestone is just another reminder of how fortunate we've been to witness Messi's truly remarkable career.

• Argentina 2-0 Panama: Messi scores stunning free kick to bring up 800 career goals

  A stunning attacking display from Lionel Messi highlighted a one-sided 2-0 home victory for Argentina in their friendly against Panama on Thursday.

  The Paris Saint-Germain superstar was nearly moved to tears as his side were serenaded by the raucous El Monumental crowd in the World Cup champions' return to Buenos Aires.

  He gave his fans an inspired performance, striking the crossbar with two free kicks before sending another into the top corner to bring up 800 goals in his storied career.

  He joined Thiago Almada on the scoresheet after the Atlanta United forward scrambled home one of Messi's crossbar rebounds earlier in the second half.

  Argentina piled on the pressure right from the first whistle, and their early dominance was almost rewarded when Messi's free kick cannoned off the crossbar in the 17th minute.

  Less than 10 minutes later Rodrigo De Paul played a gorgeous ball through to Alexis Mac Allister, but Panama goalkeeper Jose Guerra made himself big and smothered the first-time attempt on the edge of the six-yard box.

  Guerra rose the occasion once again in the shadows of half-time, denying a rocket bound for the top corner from Enzo Fernandez's boot to keep his side level through 45 minutes despite trailing 10-1 in the shot count and controlling only 27 per cent of the possession.

  The Argentinian onslaught continued in the second half, with a Messi corner kick five minutes after the restart forcing a scrambling save from Guerra as it threatened to curl under the crossbar.

  Another Messi direct free kick drew another save from Guerra, and he was there once again to deny Angel Di Maria from the resulting corner in what was shaping up as a Man of the Match performance from the Panama shot-stopper.

  But he was denied a clean sheet as the hosts' dominance eventually paid off in the 78th minute, when another Messi free kick hit the crossbar, but this time Almada was in the right spot to force home the rebound for his first goal in an Argentina shirt.

  A fourth free kick proved to be the charm for Messi, curling it over the wall and under the bar in the 89th minute to put an exclamation point on a spectacular individual performance.