“There are no words to describe him.” Argentina boss Lionel Scaloni was speechless after Lionel Messi’s performance in the 5-0 win against Estonia in the friendly in Pamplona. His captain had scored all five goals.
Four days earlier, Argentina had already set the tone for the World Cup with a 3-0 win against European champions Italy, followed by the big Messi show in Spain. Scaloni: “He’s unique and it’s a great pleasure to have him on this team, to coach him.” The Argentinian sports newspaper “Ole” wrote of the “best Messi the national team has ever seen”. So far, the 34-year-old had scored a maximum of three times in a game for Argentina.
“We couldn’t have ended the season any better. We’ve only won the Finalissima and played more playing time in preparation for the World Cup,” Messi wrote in an Instagram post. “We will now rest for a few days and then be back very soon.”
Brazil had more trouble: The record world champions won in Tokyo in front of 63,638 spectators against World Cup participants Japan 1-0. Neymar scored the goal from the penalty spot (77th).
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