Lionel Messi scored hat-trick in friendly match against Newell's Old Boys

Lionel Messi. Pic/AFP

Lionel Messi on Sunday scored an incredible hat-trick for Argentina against Newell's Old Boys.

The exhibition match took place in Messi's hometown of Rosario as a tribute to the retiring Maxi Rodriguez. The Argentine is hanging up his boots and a load of legendary players made an appearance in the match at the Marcelo Bielsa Stadium.

Messi returned to Rosario for the testimonial of ex-international team-mate Maxi Rodriguez, along with the likes of Angel Di Maria and a host of former Argentina national team stars. Messi was initially serenaded with a chant of happy birthday from the crowd and then did what he does best, scoring a hat-trick, including an absolutely sublime free-kick.

On his 36th birthday, the legend put on a show for the 42,000 fans in attendance. He was serenaded with a 'Happy birthday' greeting before his first half hat trick.

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Lionel Messi scored his first goal of the match with a brilliant free-kick. He opened the score after just four minutes with a textbook free kick, curling the ball perfectly into the top corner from 20 yards.

His second was also a textbook Messi goal. He was put through on the goal and he produced an incredible chip over the goalkeeper - something we've soon on many occasions down the years.

Messi's hat-trick goal might have been the best of the lot. He controlled the ball on his chest inside the penalty area, kept the ball in the air and volleyed past the goalkeeper.

After the match, in the post-match conference, Lionel Messi said, "It had been a long time since I had spent a birthday in Rosario, with my family and my friends," as per the official website of ESPN.

Messi also spoke about how special it was to win the World Cup with Argentina last December.

"As I said at the time: it was our turn to be world champions, but behind us were millions of impressive players who did many great things with the National Team, beyond the fact that they did not raise a cup."

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