Argentina: Lionel Messi, the record collector

07.07.26 FT World Cup

Argentina

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Egypt

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Scoring and assisting against Egypt, Lionel Messi continues to write the story of modern football. La Pulga now boasts 8 goals and is determined to bring another title to the Albiceleste.

With his outstanding performance against the Pharaohs—even after missing a penalty against Mostafa Shobeir—the former Barcelona star keeps adding records to his collection.

At 39 years and 13 days old, Leo has become the oldest player in history to both score and assist in a knockout stage match at the World Cup.

According to the X account specializing in stats, "Stats Foot," he joins an exclusive club of five players who have scored in each of their first five matches of a single World Cup edition: Just Fontaine in 1958, Jairzinho in 1970, Gerd Müller in 1970, Rivaldo in 2002, and James Rodriguez in 2014.

The Inter Miami player is also the first in history to score in six consecutive knockout stage matches at the World Cup.

With his 14th knockout stage appearance, he is now tied with Miroslav Klose as the most capped player at this stage—a record he is set to break in the quarterfinals against Switzerland.

Imed Ben Amara |

Editorar, fr

Imed Ben Amara - bilingual sports writer and web editor with experience in football content creation. Since 2021, he has contributed to Foot Africa, providing news coverage and analysis.

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