In front of a rapturous home crowd at Monumental Stadium, Argentina defeated Bolivia 6-0 in South American qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, with Lionel Messi scoring his 10th international hat-trick and providing two assists.

In just his second international match after bouncing back from an injury incurred at the Copa America in July, Messi scored the game’s first goal in the 19th minute on Tuesday by taking advantage of a blunder by defender Marcelo Suarez.

Guillermo Viscarra, the goalkeeper for Bolivia, made a few excellent save to deny the hosts from adding to their advantage, but he was overcome in the 43rd minute when Lautaro Martinez scored off of Messi’s short pass. Just before halftime, Argentina took a 3-0 lead thanks to a goal by Messi that set up Julian Alvarez.

The second half was also dominated by Lionel Scaloni’s team. Nicolas Otamendi appeared to have given them a larger advantage, but the goal was disallowed for offside.

With another goal from replacement Thiago Almada in the 70th minute, Nahuel Molina’s assist put the home team up 4-0.

In the dying seconds, Messi, 37, gave Argentina supporters even more cause to cheer when he outran two Bolivian players and then fired a strong effort past Viscarra for his second goal of the match.

Messi simply needed a further two minutes to finish his hat-trick. With a left-footed strike, the captain of Argentina increased his goal total for his nation to 112 goals. With the goal, Messi tied Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal for the record for most hat-tricks in men’s international football.

Messi expressed his happiness at being here and stated, “It moves me how they shout my name.” He once again declined to comment on whether he would play in the 2026 World Cup.

This is what motivates me. savoring my happiness right now. I feel like a kid here, even though I’m older, because I feel at ease with this crew,” he continued.

After ten matches, Argentina has 22 points, three ahead of Colombia, who defeated Chile 4-0 on Tuesday to take second place in the South American World Cup qualifying. Brazil and Uruguay, who had previously drawn goallessly with Ecuador, each have 16 points, with the latter placing third on goal differential.

With 12 points, Bolivia is still in the running to make the World Cup for the first time in thirty years. The top six teams will automatically qualify for the World Cup of 2026.