COPA AMERICA 2016 - Messi breaks goal record making history

Argentina captain Lionel Messi made history yesterday, becoming his country's all-time record goalscorer.

Messi drew level with Gabriel Batistuta in the Copa America quarter-final against Venezuela and in the next round he went one better, scoring his 55th international goal against United States.

Argentina are now through to the final of a major international tournament for the third year in a row, having been beating in the final of the 2014 World Cup, then losing out to Chile on penalties in last year's Copa America final.

Gerardo Martino's men were already 1-0 up against United States when Messi drew a foul and stepped up to take the resulting free-kick around 25 yards from goal.

Positioned on the left side of the penalty area, it looked as though the Barcelona star would float the ball over the wall and into the unguarded side of Brad Guzan's net.

Messi had other ideas, however. Instead, he smashed an unstoppable curling strike into Guzan's left-hand top corner, with the goalkeeper unable to do anything about the swerving shot.

Guzan had taken a step the other way as Messi approached the ball - perhaps anticipating a shot chipped over the wall - but it is unlikely he would have been able to stop the strike anyway.

Messi now moves on to 55 international goals, one beyond Gabriel Batistuta's record.

Typically modest Messi

Messi is first and foremost a team man, so it was no surprise he took the chance to recognise the impact of his team-mates when asked about breaking Batistuta's record after the match.

"I am happy to have surpassed Batistuta's record and I want to thank my team-mates, it's theirs as well," said Messi, who will lead Argentina into Sunday's final two days after his 29th birthday.

Messi was also involved in Argentina's first goal on the night, setting up Ezequiel Lavezzi to open the scoring, with Chinese Super League club Hebei China Fortune star Lavezzi later suffering a damaged elbow in a freak accident, ruling him out of the rest of the tournament.

Napoli's Gonzalo Higuain also hit two more goals in the match to make the final score 4-0, with Argentina set to face either Colombia or Chile - who beat them in last year's final - next.

"We needed to get back in a final but we can never get ahead of ourselves," Argentine coach Gerardo Martino said. "We've always taken it one game at a time."

Martino also spoke about Messi - who has hit five goals at the Copa America - breaking the Argentina goalscoring record when he went in front of the press after the semi-final win.

"It is great that the best player in the world is the leading scorer of the Argentina national team," he said. "But knowing how he is, he is happier about the team."

Messi missed the start of the Copa America with a back injury but made his return with a hat-trick from the bench in the group match win over Panama.

In the race for the tournament's top goalscorer prize, he is now one strike behind Chile's Eduardo Vargas, who hit four goals in his side's 7-0 thrashing of Mexico in the quarter-finals.