Nobody but Messi: record in World Cup matches

Messi broke another record in his incredible career by participating in his 26th match in the light blue and white jersey in a World Cup.

Matthäus was the one who alone held the record, since between the World Cups in Spain 1982 and France 1998 he accumulated a total of 25 games defending the shirt of the German National Team.

Although his record was threatened in 2014 by his compatriot Miroslav Klose with 24, who is also the top scorer in the history of the World Cups with his 16 conquests, finally the Rosario was the one who snatched the title from him.

Messi played three games in Germany 2006: he started against the Netherlands in a 0-0 tie and entered the wins against Serbia and Montenegro 6-0 and Mexico (2-1) in the round of 16.

That journey that had him as a “crack pigeon” ended in the quarterfinals when he lost to the host country in the definition on penalties 4-2 after equalizing in one.

In South Africa 2010 he played five matches: already with the number 10 shirt on his back, Messi started all the games under Diego Armando Maradona’s stay as coach and added four wins in a row that were against Nigeria (1-0), South Korea South (4-1), Greece (2-0) and Mexico (3-1), while the defeat was at the hands of the executioner Germany, who won 4-0 and put an end to the Argentine dream in the quarterfinals. .

In the 2014 Brazil edition, the current Paris Saint-Germain striker excelled as team captain and led it to the final of the tournament, playing all seven games: victories against Bosnia-Herzegovina (2-1), Iran (1-1), 0), Nigeria (3-2), Switzerland (1-0) and Belgium (1-0), equality against the Netherlands 0-0 and victory on penalties (4-2), and defeat in the definition -again- against Germany (1-0) that left the national team as runner-up in the world.

In the 2018 World Cup in Russia, the presentation of the Argentine team was far from ideal and Messi reaped four more matches for his statistics, which included a victory against Nigeria (2-1), a draw against Iceland (1-1) and two defeats that were with Croatia (0-3) and France (3-4), the last in the round of 16.

In the current edition of Qatar 2022, the Argentine star against France reached 26 games in his personal account after playing the duels against Saudi Arabia (1-2), Mexico (2-0), Poland (2-0), Countries Bajos (2-2 and win on penalties) and Croatia (3-0).

This is not the only record that Messi achieved in the World Cup, since against Saudi Arabia he became the first Argentine to score goals in four World Cups (2006, 2014, 2018 and 2022), while he also became the top scorer of Argentina in World Cups and the captain with the most matches (17), surpassing Diego Armando Maradona.