Lionel Messi scored a hat trick against Ecuador to secure Argentina's place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia last Tuesday. Folks in Argentina are understandibly excited about that. One Argentine club, Sacachispas, was so excited they went out and did this:
Nuestro único héroe en este LÍO! pic.twitter.com/6o5zqMUzs6
— Sacachispas (@SacachispasOK) October 14, 2017
Going into today's Atletico Madrid-Barcelona clash, Barcelona had won every game in La Liga and no opposition player had scored in Atleti's new stadium, the Wanda Metropolitano. Neither of those things are true anymore.
Atleti's Saul Niguez opened the scoring with a beautiful shot after a couple of great saves from Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.
Lionel Messi, with the hopes of a football crazed nation on his shoulders and the studs of a negative Ecuadorian side in his shins, scored an unfathomable hat trick to send Argentina to the World Cup. What else do you want to hear? What else do you want to know?
You know what Kobe Bryant once said: “You shake a tree and a leopard is gonna fall out.” Well, Ecuador shook the tree. Ecuador's Romario Ibarra netted a nifty little goal off a couple of give-and-go headers and La Albiceleste were off to a nightmarish start. Then the leopard fell out.
Lionel Messi is the leopard. Messi went on to score two goals just eight minutes apart (12’ and 20’) to give Argentina life on the last day of this crazy CONMEBOL qualifying campaign.
Messi goal vs Ecuador #1
Lionel Messi might not go to the World Cup. Argentina need to win in Ecuador, a country they have only won in once in the last 56 years, to guarantee at least a spot in a playoff to go to Russia.
This is disheartening for most soccer fans, because Lionel Messi is the best player in the world and a joy to watch. His resume speaks for itself: five Ballon d'Ors, 2014 World Cup Golden Ball, La Liga all-time top goalscorer, Argentina all-time top goalscorer, 30 trophies won with Barcelona.
Sometimes you need a hero. Yesterday, Peru got one. In a vital qualifying match facing no less than Argentina in Buenos Aires, Pedro Gallese was the hero for his national team and has over 30 million Peruvians dreaming of getting to the World Cup after 32 years.