LONDON: Lionel Messi has the chance to add another glorious milestone to his incredible World Cup journey when Argentina face England in Atlanta on Wednesday, reported PA Media/dpa.
The Press Association traces Messi’s contribution to world football’s most prestigious stage.
Repeat success?
Messi led Argentina to victory in 2022 in Qatar, scoring seven goals, including two in the final, before they beat France on penalties.
The success was seen as partly driven by the Argentine squad’s determination to win the championship before Messi retired.
However, not only did he return almost four years later, but he was once again a mainstay of the team.
The 39-year-old has scored eight goals in this summer’s tournament, equalling France forward Kylian Mbappé as the top scorer, and is now chasing a second World Cup title before almost certainly ending his career on the stage.
Respect for the individual
The World Cup Golden Shoe is one of the few major awards that Messi has yet to win after Mbappé surpassed him in the race for the award in the last edition.
The French striker scored a hat-trick in the final even though his team ultimately lost.
The same two players once again lead the competition this time, with Mbappé having the advantage through the separating criteria of number of assists and fewest minutes played.
Two English players, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, are also close behind with six goals each, while closest challenger Erling Haaland has already been eliminated.
Messi is a two-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, the award for the tournament’s best player, and in this edition adds two more all-time records to his collection.
However, Mbappé is just one goal shy of Messi’s record of 21 World Cup goals and looks set to become the long-term record holder.
Both surpassed Miroslav Klose’s previous record of 16 goals in this tournament.
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo also became the first two male players to play in six World Cups, with both surpassing Lothar Matthaus’ record of 25 appearances.
Messi is expected to make his 33rd World Cup appearance on Wednesday, six appearances ahead of Ronaldo.
A scoring record – and one weakness?
Messi scored one goal on his World Cup debut in 2006 and failed to find the target in the 2010 tournament, before making an impact with four goals in the 2014 edition hosted by Argentina’s arch-rivals Brazil.
He scored one goal in 2018 before showing an extraordinary performance in 2022 when, at the age of 35, his number of goals in one edition surpassed the total goals he had scored in the previous four tournaments.
Messi has surpassed that number in this tournament.
His total goals in 2022 were aided by four goals from penalty kicks, but he also failed to convert one and the problem returned to haunt him in North America.
Messi missed a penalty kick as Argentina beat Austria in the group stage and had another saved by Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir in the last 16, meaning he has now converted just four of his eight penalties at the World Cup, excluding shootouts.
He successfully completed his kicks in all three World Cup penalty shootouts he participated in, against the Netherlands in 2014 and 2022, and France in the 2022 final.
Messi, who was 19 at the time, was only a substitute and was not used when Argentina lost to Germany on penalties in 2006.
— BERNAMA-PA MEDIA/dpa
