Barcelona man Lionel Messi was in unstoppable form when his country needed him most on Tuesday night.The 30-year-old Argentine single-handedly secured his nation's spot at next summer's World Cup with an incredible hat-trick away in Ecuador.Jorge Sampaoli's side had only managed one goal in their last four World Cup qualifiers and were in genuine danger of missing out.Argentina, who went 1-0 down within a minute, would've been eliminated if they failed to turn it around in high altitude.Messi's stunning hat-trick secured a 3-1 comeback win and Chile - who lost 3-0 to Brazil - were the team to drop out of the World Cup spots.Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal will not be at the 2018 Russia World Cup but, thankfully, Messi and his teammates will."Fortunately everything went well and we are into the World Cup," said Messi after the crucial victory. "We are calm now after achieving the main goal, that is the most important thing. All this time that we were away from the press and the fans helped us to be closer."It would have been crazy a World Cup without Argentina, this group didn't deserve it. The team will change, will grow a lot and will come out stronger."It was a relief because we were in a tough spot. We got ourselves into this mess. It was not easy to play here, a lot of things happen from my mind when the 0-1 came, but the group overcame the situation very well and was quick to take the lead."There was some fear of missing the World Cup. We let pass a lot of opportunities and we had to decide our future in this game. We had to qualify, now it's time to enjoy"

Gary Lineker's tweet goes viral

The Match of the Day host stayed up to watch Messi & Co.'s do-or-die World Cup qualifier.

Messi's hat-trick goal prompted Lineker to send a brilliant tweet in which he commented on the 30-year-old's status as the Greatest of All-Time [GOAT].

Incredibly, it's now been eleven months since an Argentine player other than Messi scored for the national team.

His individual highlights against Ecuador are quite frankly a must-watch.