Analysing Lionel Messi's 79 international goals - Which team has the Argentine star scored the most against?

Ritabrata Banerjee

Analysing Lionel Messi's 79 international goals - Which team has the Argentine star scored the most against? image

Lionel Messi helped Argentina lift their first international trophy in 28 years at Copa America 2021.

The Argentina talisman scored four goals and provided five assists in the tournament as La Albiceleste bagged their 15th Copa America title. It was also Messi's first-ever major international trophy win.

With the four goals in the tournament, Messi took his international goals tally to 76 and became the second highest active goalscorer. However, UAE's Ali Mabkhout recently scored against Syria to take his tally to 77 goals and surpass Messi.

But Messi's sublime hat-trick against Bolivia means now he has 79 international goals to his name. 

Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo has 111 goals to his name as he became the highest international goalscorer (men) to etch his name in the history books.

The most number of goals, the Argentine has scored against is Bolivia (eight goals) which is followed by six against Ecuador. He has scored five goals against teams like Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina's arch-rivals Brazil.

His first-ever international goal was against Croatia in 2006 in an international friendly match in which Argentina lost 3-2. In his long and illustrious international career, Messi has netted seven international hat-tricks, including one against Brazil.

Here, we take a look at Messi's 79 international goals and the teams he has scored the most goals against.

Who has Messi scored the most international goals against?

Opponent Goals
Bolivia 8
Ecuador 6
Brazil 5
Uruguay 5
Chile 5
Paraguay 5
Venezuela 4
Nigeria 3
Haiti 3
Panama 3
Guatemala 3
Switzerland 3
Colombia 3
Mexico 3
Nicaragua 2
Hong Kong 2
Spain 2
Algeria 2
Croatia 2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 1
Serbia and Montenegro 1
Germany 1
France 1
Portugal 1
Albania 1
Germany 1
Slovenia 1
Iran 1
USA 1

Ritabrata Banerjee