Argentina captain Lionel Messi not only won the world title for the first time but also set a string of records at the 2022 World Cup.
1. Messi joined the Five World Cup Club. Before the World Cup in Qatar, it included Antonio Carbajal, Lothar Matthäus, Paolo Maldini and Gianluigi Buffon. Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Andres Guardado and Guillermo Ochoa joined this list at the 2022 World Cup.
2. Taking part in all seven matches, Messi has made a total of 26 World Cup appearances. According to this indicator, the Argentine overtook Lothar Matthäus (25).
3. In Qatar, Messi played 2,314 minutes on the pitch and surpassed Paolo Maldini, who was stopped on 2,216 minutes.
4. Messi is the only player to have provided at least one assist in five different World Cups. In Qatar, he has three assists, thanks to which Messi caught up with Diego Maradona – eight assists each at the World Cup.
5. In 19 games, Lionel Messi led the Argentina national team with the captain’s armband. And he overtook Mexican Rafa Marquez (17) and Diego Maradona (16).
6. Messi scored his first World Cup goal on 16 June 2006 against Serbia. And the last one – 5999 days later (16 years, 5 months and 2 days) in the final against France.
7. Lionel Messi is the only player to have scored under 20, over 20 and over 30.
8. The Argentine was the first player to score in every round of the World Cup.
9. Messi is the first Argentine footballer to score at least one goal in four different World Cups.
