Messi on way to surpass Maradona on cap

Sambad English Bureau Published On : Jul 7, 2014 at 10:23 AM Updated On : Jul 7, 2014 at 11:16 AM

Buenos Aires, July 7:

Lionel Messi is on the way to surpass Diego Armando Maradona’s mark of number of games played with the Argentine national team when he face the Netherlands Wednesday.

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The Barcelona’s forward capped 91 times after Argentina’s 1-0 victory over Belgium Saturday, reports Xinhua.

Javier Zanetti, vice president of Italy’s Inter Milan, holds the record of 145 matches played with Argentina, followed by Roberto Ayala (115), Diego Simeone (106), Javier Mascherano (103) and Oscar Ruggeri (97).

Mascherano, 30, will also add matches to his account, but since Messi is younger (27), the expectation is that he will also beat Mascherano’s record.

“La Pulga” (Messi’s nickname) has scored four goals in Brazil 2014, three in the first stage. He is fifth in the list of Argentine players who have scored in World Cups.

So far, Messi has scored a total of 42 goals to reach the second place of Argentine scorers just behind Gabriel Batistuta (56).

(IANS)