Football superstar Lionel Messi shone with a gala at the preliminary round of the Copa America as the new record national player of Argentina and also confirmed his eligibility for the first title with the Seleccion.
Four days after his 34th birthday, the captain led the gauchos to victory in their 148th international match with two goals and an assist in a 4-1 (3-0) win against Bolivia.
Behind Argentina, which will meet Ecuador in the quarter-finals on Saturday, Uruguay jumped 1-0 (1-0) against Paraguay in Group A and is now fighting for a place in the bottom four against Colombia. Paraguay and Peru will kick off the knockout round on Friday. Then defending champion Brazil, which dominated Group B, will face Chile in a duel between the youngest champions (winners 2015 and 2016).
In Cuiaba, Messi, who overtook the previous game record holder Javier Mascherano, initiated the 1-0 through Papu Gomez (6th) with an ingenious lob, the 2-0 he ripped off with a penalty (33rd), before he with a dreamlike lifter (42nd) from the edge of the box made everything clear before the break. Lautaro Martinez (65th) replied almost immediately to the subsequent goal by Erwin Saavedra (60th), who thus scored both tournament goals in Bolivia four defeats.
With 75 international goals now, Messi is chasing the record for Brazilian legend Pele, who tops the scorers list in the national shirt with 77 goals on the continent.
The FC Barcelona striker had already snatched the goal record for the same club last December from Pele, who scored 643 times for FC Santos in official games.
But the number 10 of the gauchos, 2005 world champion with the U20 and 2008 Olympic champion with the U23, is still waiting for a title with the great Seleccion.
For Copa record winners Uruguay, old star Edinson Cavani made the difference against Paraguay at the Estadio Nilton Santos in Rio de Janeiro.
The striker from the English top club Manchester United marked the goal of the evening in the 21st minute from the penalty mark.