Lionel Messi scores fastest goal of his career – Despite stepping away from elite level football with a move to MLS, Lionel Messi is still breaking records.
This time it was one of his own, though, scoring the fastest-ever goal of his career.
The Argentina captain scored an opener against Australia with 79 seconds on the clock to break his previous record.
Taking a pass from Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez outside of the D, he shimmied, left midfielder Aiden O’Neill rolling about in a heap, and then curled in an unstoppable left-footed trademark strike.
It was his 103rd goal in 175 games for Argentina, who in December he won the World Cup with.
The game, taking place in the Workers’ Stadium in the Chinese capital of Beijing, saw Messi make it five goals in three games since his World Cup final heroics.
He’s still never scored a goal inside the first minute, though, with his previous best at two minutes and six seconds of a Barcelona Champions League match against Chelsea in 2018.
Previous to that was a two minute 46 second goal against Nigeria at the 2014 World Cup.
Since signing for David Beckham’s Inter Miami, no one is quite sure how long Messi will continue at the top with his country, although he has said it’s unlikely he’ll feature at the next World Cup in 2026.
Messi’s strike set Argentina on their way to a 2-0 win over the Socceroos with German Pezzella netting the world champions’ second midway through the second half.
Next up is another friendly against Indonesia, but Messi won’t play as he has two events back home which are Juan Roman Riquelme’s farewell to Boca Juniors, and former Liverpool winger Maxi Rodriguez’s goodbye to Newell’s Old Boys.
