World Cup: Why I will not celebrate my 1,000th game – Messi

Argentina captain, Lionel Messi, has said he will not celebrate his personal milestone of reaching 1,000 professional matches.

Messi was again on the scoresheet as Argentina beat Australia 2-1 in the last 16 of the 2022 World Cup.

The 35-year-old has admitted his overriding emotion was a relief to have passed a physical test just 48 hours after their last group stage match.

Despite reaching yet another career milestone and surpassing Diego Maradona’s mark of eight World Cup goals, Messi is not recognising this personal achievement.

When asked on Argentine TV whether he was going to celebrate his 1,000th match, Messi answered: “No, truly no. This was a tough game, tough game, we didn’t have much rest, we had not really recovered well. It was a very physical game as well.

“When we found out we had to play again in three days, we said it was crazy and not enough rest, but at the same time we wanted to be here for what it feels like and for what this represents and for our fans.”