Argentina defeated Venezuela 3-0, Messi scored twice in the World Cup qualifiers, tying Cristiano Ronaldo for second place, Lautaro also scored.

At 7:30 AM Beijing time on September 5th, during the 17th round of the South American World Cup qualifiers, Argentina played Venezuela at home, marking Argentina’s last home game in this qualification cycle.

In the first half, Alvarez selflessly assisted, allowing Messi to calmly chip the ball over multiple defenders and break the deadlock, giving Argentina a 1-0 lead at halftime; in the second half, Messi quickly took a free kick to initiate the attack, Gonzalez crossed to assist Lautaro who headed in as a substitute to extend the lead, then Almada made a back-heel pass and Messi finished with a shot to complete his brace.

In the end, Argentina won convincingly 3-0 over Venezuela, sitting comfortably at 38 points, while Venezuela remained seventh with 18 points.

Note: The top six teams in the South American qualifiers qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada, and Mexico, while the seventh place enters the intercontinental playoff.

Argentina vs Venezuela,Scaloni deployed a 4-2-2-2 formation, with Messi and Alvarez forming a dual technical forward line, supported by Mastantuono and Almada behind them, De Paul and Paredes paired as double defensive midfielders, Molina, Romero, Otamendi, and Tagliafico formed the back four, Martinez in goal; the starting lineup’s combined value was 300 million euros.Venezuela used a 5-3-2 formation, with a starting lineup valued at 40.15 million euros, and former Chinese Super League player Long Dong was the starting forward.

In this match, Argentina dominated completely, and since it was the team’s last home game in this World Cup qualifying campaign, the entire squad gave their all. Messi once again showed his kingly qualities by creating three goals, scoring twice himself, and quickly initiating an attack from a free kick. Alvarez continued to outperform Lautaro as a starter; Guardiola’s mistake was letting go of the World Cup and Copa America-winning main striker “Little Spider” and relying on Haaland, who didn’t even play in the Euros. Haaland, a Norwegian striker, has failed to score in all nine finals of his career and does not fit Manchester City’s possession-based attacking style. In this game, Alvarez assisted Messi to break the deadlock, demonstrating great technical synergy. Lautaro was also impressive, scoring a header as a substitute! Gonzalez and Almada both earned assists. Ultimately, Argentina comfortably beat Venezuela 3-0, ending their home World Cup qualifiers on a perfect note.

Messi received the highest rating of 9.3 for the match, scoring two goals and bringing his total World Cup qualifying goals to 36, tying Cristiano Ronaldo. Messi and Ronaldo are now jointly second, just three goals behind Carlos Ruiz (Guatemala) who has 39. However, this record will inevitably belong to Ronaldo since South America has only one round left in qualifiers, while Europe has just started and features many weaker teams, making it certain that Ronaldo will surpass this mark.

Throughout the match,Argentina held 77% possession, took 17 shots with 9 on target; Venezuela had 5 shots but none were on target..