Lionel Messi bagged his 800th goal of his career as world champions Argentina secured a 2-0 victory over Panama in an international friendly in Buenos Aires on Thursday.

The 35-year-old seven-time Ballon d’Or winner scored a beautiful free kick in the last few minutes. This was after 21-year-old MLS star Thiago Almada showed what the future could hold by scoring his first goal for the national team in only his third game.

Before the game started, fireworks went off in the sky above the impressive Monumental stadium, where 83,000 lucky fans out of more than 1.5 million people who tried to get tickets made the atmosphere electric.

Messi, his coach Lionel Scaloni, and a number of other players came onto the field with their children. Many of them looked like they were about to cry as fans sang “Muchachos,” the anthem of Argentina’s winning World Cup campaign in Qatar.

After the game, the party kept going, and each member of the team that won the World Cup was given a copy of the trophy to hold up in front of their families.

“I always dreamt of this moment, being able to celebrate with you (the fans), being able to come to my country to lift a Copa America, a World Cup. It’s the best thing there is,” said Messi, who was presented with several awards after the game.

“I am eternally grateful to this group of players. Football is theirs, it belongs to all those that wear this jersey,” said Scaloni, who finally cracked and let the tears flow.

“They leave every last drop of sweat and sometimes the result doesn’t follow. This time it did and it’s amazing.”

Photo by EPA/JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI