Football legend, Lionel Messi has finally ended his painful, decades-long wait for the one trophy he really craved.
Currently, fans of the football idol all over the world are gladly celebrating his world cup win – Following Argentina’s triumphant victory over France in the finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup hosted in Qatar.
In the finals against France, Lionel Messi started in style, scoring with a penalty & Angel Di Maria followed it up with one more amazing goal!
Argentina had dominated the bulk of the match, leading 2-0 with just about 10 minutes to go, but France suddenly burst into life with star forward Kylian Mbappé scoring twice in as many minutes.
Both sides traded missed chances and then late goals again in the 30 minutes of extra time before the tension of penalty kicks which Argentina ultimately won.
Without a second thought, I can confidently say the G.O.A.T debate between Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo has finally been settled after over 15 years of their glittering careers.
The World Cup which is considered the highest of all honours in football has placed Messi above Ronaldo in terms of achievements.
Although, Ronaldo has made five world cup appearances in his entire career but has failed to lift the ultimate trophy.
Lionel Messi, on the other hand, has also made the same World Cup appearances as Ronaldo but can boast of winning the revered trophy once which Ronaldo can’t say for himself.
In this article, we are going to look at 8 interesting facts about Lionel Messi in the World Cup.
- Messi is one of only six men to have played in five World Cups alongside Antonio Carbajal, Lothar Mattha
- Messi has a record for the most World Cup appearances (25) with Lothar Matthaus and will take the outright lead if he appears in the final.
- Messi has made a record 18 appearances as captain in the World Cup. He is followed by Rafa Marquez (17) and Diego Maradona (16).us, Rafa Marquez, Andres Guardado and Cristiano Ronaldo.
- Messi has played a total of 2,24 minutes in the world cup and has surpassed Paolo Maldini who’s currently on 2,217 minutes played if he plays in the final.
- Messi is the only player to register an assist in five World Cups. His closest challengers are Pele, Grzegorz Lato, and Maradona.
- Messi and Pele share the record for the most assists in the knockout phase (6).
- Messi is Argentina’s joint-leading marksman in the World Cup with 11 goals. He is followed by Gabriel Batistuta (10), Diego Maradona (8), Guillermo Stabile (8), Mario Kempes (6).
- The Player of the Match, first awarded in 2002, has been given to Messi an unequalled 10 times. His four at Brazil 2014 is a record for one edition he shares with Wesley Sneijder, who received the same at South Africa 2010.