Lionel Messi’s participation in the match between Argentina and Canada at the opening of the 2024 Copa America was not ordinary, but rather wrote a special history for him in the tournament.
Argentina won over Canada 2-0 in the match held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in the American city of Atlanta, during which Messi did not score, but he appeared at a very distinguished level.
With his participation, Messi became the player who participated most in Copa America matches in history, as he played his 35th match.
The 36-year-old broke up his partnership with the late Chilean player, Sergio Livingstone, who played 34 matches in the tournament during the 1940s and 1950s.
In general, this is the seventh time that Messi has played in the Copa America competition, as his first participation was in Venezuela 2017 when he was 20 years old.
Messi won the Copa America title once in the 2021 Brazil edition, finished runner-up 3 times, and finished third in 2019, while he was content with only advancing to the quarter-finals in 2011.
The flea needs only 4 goals to become the all-time top scorer in Copa America, after scoring 13 goals in his seven appearances, and is 3 goals behind the historic duo of Argentine Norberto Mendes and Brazilian Zizinho.
It is noteworthy that Cristiano Ronaldo, on the other hand, is the all-time top scorer in the European Nations Cup, as well as the most participating in the tournament in history, in 6 editions.
