Messi hits finest form for Argentina

His hat-trick in a remarkable 4-3 friendly win over arch-rivals Brazil in New Jersey late on Saturday night took his tally for the national side to 26 goals in 70 matches and he saved the best until last.

His third goal, six minutes from time at Meadowlands Stadium, was a classic sealed with a trademark run and unstoppable shot into the top corner of the goal from outside the penalty area.

The little ace has not always had it so good. He has had to overcome criticism, some of it severe and even nasty, from fellow Argentines who accused him of being a Catalan and lacking passion for his country.

He never played first division football in Argentina, having moved to Barcelona in his early teens, but fans were forgetting that he helped his country’s under-20s win the World Youth Cup in 2005.

This year he has scored seven goals in three internationals and, while his first two hat-tricks for Argentina have been in friendlies, three goals against five times world champions Brazil is always special.

Messi levelled the scores after 31 minutes after Gonzalo Higuain robbed Brazilian captain Sandro and fed the striker with a defence-splitting pass for him to shoot low into the corner of the net.

Within three minutes, the diminutive striker ran clear again to put Argentina 2-1 up, collecting a pass from Angel di Maria and rounding Brazilian goalkeeper Rafael Cabral.

A young Brazil side, facing a more experienced Argentina, had opened the scoring in the 23rd minute when a quickly taken free-kick found Romulo, who netted swiftly as Argentina’s defenders appealed in vain for offside.

After half time, Brazil got back in the game when Oscar scored from close range after 56 minutes and then reclaimed the lead when Hulk took advantage of a fumble by Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero to score

Argentina stormed back quickly in a rollercoaster game as Federico Fernandez headed in from a corner in the 75th minute. Then, with six minutes of normal time left, Messi scored the best goal of the game with his storming run and unstoppable shot hight into the net.

He is now Argentina’s fourth highest scorer behind Gabriel Batistuta (56), Hernan Crespo (35) and Diego Maradona (34) with potentially another decade of action in front of him.

“It’s always beautiful to beat Brazil and I am very happy with my three goals,” said Messi.

Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella, who made Messi camptain when he took over last August, said: “Luckily [Messi] is Argentine and we can enjoy him. He’s been going through great moments for quite some time, he won the last three Ballons d’Or in Europe and he’s delighting us with great performances.

“We try to play a different game from Barcelona, more vertical, because we don’t have the Barcelona players to play their game.”