2024 Lionel Messi It had started negatively, with a draw and a defeat in friendlies with Inter Miami. But this Monday, in Saudi Arabia, La Pulga was able to score his first goal of the yearby marking the start of the partial comeback against Al Hilalin the Riyadh Season Cup.
Messi’s first half had not been good, but the attitude of the entire team changed in the second half. It was the American David Ruiz who got into the area and forced the untimely arrival of Mohammed Jahfali, who after the VAR check, caused the sanction of the Brazilian referee Edina Alves Batista.
Thus, at 53 minutes, the Argentine did not fail from a place where he does not usually fail. He chose a high cross shot that hit goalkeeper Habib Al-Watyan in the left corner.
So, among the three friendlies that have been played this preseason, Lionel Messi needed 161 minutes on the playing field to score his first goal.
The Argentine star’s performance is enormous, with today’s score against Al Hilal, Messi reached 822 goals in his career in 22 seasons as a professional and 21 consecutive years scoring goals.
That first goal of the flea in the 2004-2005 season, with the FC Barcelona shirt against Albacete. Today he scored again and drops into the table of top scorers where he is second behind Cristiano Ronaldo (873).