Lautaro Martinez matches Aguero to become Argentina’s third all-time top scorer

Lautaro Martinez opened the scoring in Argentina’s 4-0 victory over Bolivia in the early hours of Thursday morning, and in doing so, has matched Sergio Aguero to become his nation’s third all-time top goalscorer in international fixtures.

It is a particularly special international break for Argentina, who are taking on Bolivia and Burkina Faso before bidding farewell to Lionel Messi in a special one-off fixture against Benin next week.

Messi was not involved for last night’s 4-0 win over Bolivia, nor will he be for Argentina’s match against Burkina Faso in the early hours of Sunday morning, but will return for the Benin match next week.

Inter talisman Lautaro Martinez was selected to lead the line alongside Julian Alvarez in Messi’s absence for Argentina against Bolivia, and it took him just 19 minutes to open the scoring for his nation.

Exequiel Palacios played a ball through the midfield, Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister got a deft touch to it, which put it into the path of Lautaro on the edge of the penalty area. The Inter captain took a couple of touches on the edge of the area before dispatching into the bottom corner of the net from 18 yards out.

This was his 41st goal for Argentina, the third-most of any player in his nation’s history along with Sergio Aguero. Only Gabriel Batistuta (55) and Messi (125) have more.

Argentina head coach Lionel Scaloni has also recently confirmed that Martinez will serve as the country’s third-choice captain once Messi retires, behind Cuti Romero and Emiliano Martinez in the pecking order.

Watch: Lautaro Martinez opens the scoring in Argentina 4-0 Bolivia