Argentina's all-time top scorers list | OneFootball

After making his historic and definitive farewell to the Albiceleste official through an emotional letter on his social media, LIONEL MESSI brings his golden era to a close as the absolute master and undisputed leader of Argentina’s all-time scoring chart. The captain signed off at the summit with 125 goals, after shining with eight goals scored at the 2026 World Cup.

In this way, the Rosario-born star finished with more than double the tally of his closest chaser. In the top seven spots, behind the Rosario superstar, are: Gabriel Batistuta (54), Sergio Agüero (42), Lautaro Martínez (42), Hernán Crespo (35), Diego Maradona (32), Gonzalo Higuaín (31) and Ángel Di María (30).

In addition, with his penalty in the pre-World Cup friendly against Iceland, Lionel Messi outright reached another historic milestone in national football by becoming the oldest player ever to score wearing the Argentina national team shirt. The Rosario forward took the field at 38 years, 11 months and 14 days old, breaking a longevity record that had belonged to one of the sport’s great icons.

Until this match, the historic record had been held by legendary River Plate striker Ángel Amadeo Labruna, who scored his last international goal on July 7, 1957 against Brazil at the Maracanã, at the age of 38 years, 9 months and 8 days. The Argentine captain had already been closing in on that mark since March 31, when he scored against Zambia at La Bombonera at 38 years, 9 months and 7 days old, falling just one day short of the Feo’s mark.

Meanwhile, against Algeria, in addition to extending his longevity record, he became the oldest Argentine to score at a World Cup at 38 years, 11 months and 21 days old. He comfortably surpassed Martín Palermo, as the “Titan” had held that achievement at 36 years, 7 months and 15 days since his goal against Greece at South Africa 2010.

For his part, La Pulga is the all-time top scorer in World Cup qualifiers with 36 goals, seven more than Uruguayan Luis Suárez. Also, in the opening match of the 2026 edition against Ecuador, he became the first footballer to score in 5 different editions in the history of the CONMEBOL competition, a figure later matched by Arturo Vidal.

Scored in the most World Cup qualifying campaigns with Argentina

Lionel Messi (5) 4 in 2010, 10 in 2014, 7 in 2018, 7 in 2022 and 8 in 2026

Hernán Crespo (3) 3 in 1998, 9 in 2002 and 7 in 2006

Gabriel Batistuta (3) 3 in 1994, 3 in 1998, 5 in 2002

Juan Pablo Sorín (3) 1 in 1998, 2 in 2002, 2 in 2006.

Gonzalo Higuain (3) 1 in 2010, 9 in 2014, 1 in 2018

Ángel Di María (3) 3 in 2014, 2 in 2018 and 3 in 2022

NOTE 1: Daniel Passarella scored 23 goals for the national team. Many media outlets do not count the goal against Germany (2-1 in the 1981 Mundialito in Uruguay) and consider it an own goal by the defender who tried to clear his header off the line.

NOTE 2: Ángel Di María was not the scorer of the goal against Paraguay in the World Cup qualifiers on 9/7/2012 at the Mario Kempes. His shot deflected off Ezequiel Lavezzi’s back, making him the scorer.

NOTE 3: Gonzalo Higuaín did not score the goal against Sweden in 2013. After receiving the ball from Di María, Pipa struck a shot that was not heading on target, and it ended up going in after rebounding off Mikael Lustig. Own goal.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.