Copa America: Watch Lionel Messi score hat trick vs Panama (Video)
By David Rouben
Lionel Messi scored a hat trick for Argentina in the span of 22 minutes.
With Argentina already leading 1-0 against Panama, they brought on Lionel Messi to entertain the crowd and have them get their first taste of Messi in the Copa America. As it turns out, he did much more than entertain them, as he scored a hat trick to put the game well out of reach.
Here are all three of his goals, in order:
"That didn’t take long! Leo Messi nets his 51st international goal to double Argentina’s lead. #ARGvPAN #MyCopaColors https://t.co/xC6cMnZ2q8— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 11, 2016"
"Stop it, Lionel Messi. Just stop it. #ARGvPAN #MyCopaColors #CopaAmerica https://t.co/H7YTmvGaTy— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 11, 2016"
"Lionel Messi: Simply. Incredible. #ARGvPAN #MyCopaColors #CopaAmerica https://t.co/P3x7rYidUy— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 11, 2016"
As if that wasn’t enough, he was involved in a Sergio Aguero goal to put an exclamation mark on it:
"Lionel Messi –> Marcos Rojo –> Sergio Aguero = Game, set and match. #ARGvPAN #MyCopaColors #CopaAmerica https://t.co/hAsED70Xnv— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 11, 2016"
The most incredible part about all of this was that it all came in the span of 22 minutes, and while he’s probably still recovering from an injury he suffered before the Copa America started.
As Barcelona’s leading man for almost a decade, Messi embraces the big stage, and he delivered in front of 50,000 fans while playing on big Fox. And this was just a small taste of what he’ll be doing later on in the tournament.
Messi is the greatest player in the world, but the only thing missing from his illustrious trophy cabinet is a trophy at the international level. Now that he’s back, expect him to be a man on a mission as Argentina guns for the Copa America.
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