Three months on from winning the World Cup in Qatar, Argentina returned to action in front of their adoring faithful at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires on Thursday evening.
Panama were presented with the honour of facing the world champions in their homecoming, and Thomas Christiansen's side would have been content to get to half time unscathed after Lionel Messi rattled the woodwork from a free kick.
Messi struck the crossbar once again in the second period from another set-piece, before the rebound eventually broke to Thiago Almada who lashed home his first international goal.
With one minute of regulation time remaining, Messi produced a sublime free kick, which curled out of the reach of Jose Guerra to bring up his 800th career goal for club and country.
Messi is now just one strike away from a century of goals for Argentina, while he has scored 672 and 29 goals for Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.
To mark Messi's impressive achievement, Sports Mole delves deeper into the Argentine's 800-goal haul.
FIRST SENIOR GOAL - BARCELONA VS. ALBACETE (May 1, 2005)
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Barcelona had to wait until the 66th minute to open the scoring at Camp Nou against an Albacete side who finished the season bottom of the La Liga table.
Samuel Eto'o was the man who put the hosts in front, and with Barcelona heading towards victory, the Cameroonian made way for Messi in the 88th minute.
Frank Rijkaard's substitution proved to be a historic one, as in the first minute of stoppage time, a sumptuous lofted pass from Ronaldinho presented Messi with the chance to coolly lift the ball over Raul Valbuena to open his account for the Catalan giants.
Incidentally, Barcelona ended the 2004-05 campaign with their first league title in six years - it would also be the first of 10 La Liga trophies that Messi has lifted in his career.
LA LIGA GOALS - 474
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From the 2008-09 season until his Barcelona departure in the summer of 2021, Messi scored over 20 league goals in 13 consecutive seasons.
Astonishingly, Messi's highest-ever haul in a La Liga campaign was in the 2011-12 season when he racked up 50 goals in 37 league appearances.
During the memorable 2011-12 league campaign, Messi registered seven braces, six hat-tricks and two four-goal hauls.
The Barcelona legend usually came to the fore in his 29 appearances in La Liga Clasicos, finding the net on 28 occasions.
The 35-year-old's two league hat-tricks against Real Madrid took place in a 3-3 draw in October 2007 and a dramatic 4-3 victory in one of the best Clasico's of all time in March 2014.
LIGUE 1 - 19 GOALS
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The French top flight represents the only domestic league other than La Liga that Messi has competed in.
Messi's numbers in Ligue 1 may not be as eye-catching as his La Liga record, but he has still contributed to his career tally with 19 goals in 49 league appearances for PSG.
The Argentine's first Ligue 1 goal was scored against Nantes in November 2021, and his most recent PSG goal arrived against the same opponent.
A toe-poke past Alban Lafont set PSG on their way to a 4-2 home victory over Antoine Kombouare's side earlier this month.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE - 129 GOALS
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The greatest players perform on the greatest stage, and Messi has certainly done just that in Europe's premier club competition.
The Argentina international is the second-highest scorer in Champions League history, having found the net 129 times in 163 appearances.
Famously, Messi scored in two Champions League finals against Manchester United, producing a memorable header during a 2-0 win in 2009 and a low left-footed strike from distance in a 3-1 victory at Wembley 12 years ago.
With his PSG contract set to expire at the end of the season, there is uncertainty surrounding his future, but he may decide to remain in Europe and chase down Cristiano Ronaldo's all-time Champions League scoring record of 140 goals.
COPA AMERICA - 13 GOALS
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Messi has experienced something of a love-hate relationship with the Copa America after failing to find the net in the 2011 tournament and scoring just one goal in both the 2015 and 2019 editions of the competition.
He was also involved in three final defeats in 2007, 2015 and 2016, before he finally lifted the trophy two years ago.
Messi registered four goals - including a brace in a 4-1 group-stage win over Bolivia - as Argentina went all the way, beating bitter rivals Brazil 1-0 in the final at the famous Maracana.
In total, Messi has accumulated 13 goals during his 34 appearances at Copa America, finishing as the joint-highest scorer alongside Colombia's Luis Diaz in 2021.
WORLD CUP - 13 GOALS
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Prior to the 2022 tournament in Qatar, Messi had scored six goals in 19 appearances at the World Cup finals.
The boy from Rosario had also previously failed to find the net in a World Cup knockout game, but all that changed last year.
As it proved, Poland were the only side who managed to keep Messi at bay, as he dispatched seven goals at the 2022 World Cup, including a brace in the final against France.
During the tournament, Messi also moved past Gabriel Batistuta to become Argentina's all-time World Cup goal scorer.
FAVOURITE OPPONENT- SEVILLA (38 goals)
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Sevilla fans would have been relieved to see Messi depart Barcelona in 2021 after being tormented by the Argentine over the years.
In 43 competitive appearances against Sevilla, the forward play his part in 31 victories and scored 30 goals.
He netted a hat-trick in a commanding 5-1 win in November 2015, and he repeated the feat during a 4-2 away win three years ago.
Messi also scored two goals in Barcelona's UEFA Super Cup win over the Andulusians in August 2015, representing one of six braces that he registered against Sevilla.
