Lionel Messi surpasses ex-Barcelona teammate's record with first-half brace against Peru

Lionel Messi scored against Peru on Tuesday (October 17) to go past former Barcelona teammate Luis Suarez atop the CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup qualifying leaderboard.

The two players were teammates at Barcelona between 2014 and 2020 before the latter left for Atletico Madrid, scoring goals and winning trophies galore.

Meanwhile, Messi, 36, was making his first start for Argentina since their FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifying win (1-0) over Ecuador last month. The seven-time Ballon d'Or winner broke the deadlock in Lima in the 32nd minute. That broke a tie with Suarez (29) for most goals in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifiers.

The Argentina captain finished off a brilliant counterattack, converting Nicolas Gonzalez's cutback past Peruvian 'keeper Pedro Gallese to put the visitors in front.

Just ten minutes later, Messi was at it again, converting Enzo Fernandez's pass to culminate a fabulous team move as the Alibeleste led 2-0 at the break. The Inter Miami attacker now has 31 FIFA World Cup qualifying goals in 63 games, two clear of second-placed Suarez, who has 29 strikes in 62 games.

With the 2-0 win, Lionel Messi's Argentina consolidated their position atop the CONMEBOL FIFA World Cup 2026 standings with 12 points after four games. The defending champions are five clear of second-placed Uruguay, who stunned Brazil 2-0 at home earlier in the day.

---

A look at Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez's joint goal participations for Barcelona

Lionel Messi (left) and Luis Suarez

Both Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez enjoyed a fabulous stint with Barcelona. La Pulga is the club's all-time top scorer with 672 goals and assist-provider with 303 in 778 games across competitions. Meanwhile, Suarez bagged 195 goals and 113 assists in 283 games across competitions for the La Liga giants.

Messi and Suarez played 258 games together for Barca across competitions between the 2014-15 and 2019-20 seasons. The duo had 99 joint goal participations, with Suarez assisting Messi 56 times and the Argentine returning the favour on 43 occasions.

The duo's last joint goal participation came in Barca's 3-1 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 second-leg home win over Napoli. After Messi had doubled Barca's lead inside 23 minutes, he set up Suarez on the cusp of half-time to make it 3-0.

Barcelona eventually won 3-1 on the night and 4-2 on aggregate to reach the quarterfinal, where they lost 8-2 to eventual champions Bayern Munich in a single-leg game.

During their time together at the Camp Nou, the duo won the 2014-15 Champions League as part of a continental treble, four La Liga titles and four Copa del Rey honours, among others.