Lionel Messi said goodbye to the World Cup qualifiers in home matches in Argentina by scoring a brace in the 3-0 victory over Venezuela on a night where the emotions of the whole world crossed to make the match at the Monumental stadium an unforgettable night.

The Argentine triumph was complemented by a goal from Inter Milan forward Lautaro Martinez to round out an unforgettable night for Messi and his friends in a match that will go down in history for everything that was experienced and what it will represent in the career of the Argentine number 10.

A grand farewell where the nearly 85,000 attendees at La Pulga's last game at the Nunez stadium gave themselves body and soul to the Inter Miami player, who was moved by the displays of support and unconditional love for the moral leader of the Albiceleste.

Messi reciprocated that devotion with an outstanding performance that led the Argentines to their twelfth victory in the Conmebol World Cup qualifiers to ratify their dominance with 38 points, ten above Brazil, their closest pursuer.

Now the team led by Lionel Scaloni will close out its qualifying cycle with a visit to Ecuador that will not affect its privileged place in the group stage. South America heading to the World Cup where they will arrive as favorites to retain their world title won in Qatar 2022.

For its part, Venezuela, despite the defeat, remained in seventh place with 18 points thanks to Colombia's 3-0 victory, which sealed their qualification over Bolivia and which will give way to a key game against the Venezuelans to try to snatch their place in the World Cup play-offs from the Vinotinto.

The details of the victory

Argentina did not hesitate to take advantage of the fact that Venezuela was too deep on the field to try to prevent them from being easily surpassed by the power of the Argentines, But even that did not daunt Messi and the rest of his teammates, where Franco Mastantuono also appeared in the third minute of play, resulting in a dangerous shot by Julian Alvarez. The recent Real Madrid signing was eloquent on the pitch and together with Thiago Almada put Rafael Romo's goal in danger from the first minutes of the match.

Venezuela tried to defend tooth and nail, but Argentina managed to take the lead in the 39th minute when a cross from Leandro Paredes was controlled by Julian Alvarez so that, as Romo came out, it only touched Messi and he put the ball into the net in front of an empty net.

The Argentine dominance was so radical that the Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano "Dibu" Martinez had such a calm first half that everything was limited to a very weak header from King Salomon Rondon.

For the second half, the Vinotinto team wanted to change its approach on the pitch, pushing their lines forward and looking for the introduction of Yeferson Soteldo and Josef Martinez to give them more options to cause damage to the goal. "Draw" Martinez, but without the arguments to get it.

These conditions of the match generated that Lionel Messi had another clear chance to score in the 15th minute of the second half when, in a one-on-one with goalkeeper Romo, La Pulga crashed the ball into the Venezuelan goalkeeper. Then came missed opportunities by Nicolas Gonzalez and Thiago Almada that kept the score at a minimal advantage for Argentina. But in the 75th minute, Messi appeared with his usual cunning to take a free kick, passing it to Nico Gonzalez, who was able to cross it clearly for Lautaro Martinez to send the ball into the net for 2-0. The climax of the night came in the 79th minute when Rodrigo de Paul sent a pass almost with his hand to Thiago Almada, who only had to pass the ball to the Argentine leader to score his eighth goal in these qualifiers and become the top scorer of the competition.