Lionel Messi didn’t need the 2026 World Cup to prove his brilliance, but he’s cemented his position as the greatest footballer ever nonetheless.
The 2022 final was supposed to be Lionel Messi’s last World Cup match.
The final will also be his 34th appearance at the World Cup overall, taking him seven clear of nearest rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
While Ronaldo ended with yet more World Cup disappointment, Messi has only become even more effective with age.
Bar his first World Cup in 2006, when Messi played just 121 of the 510 possible minutes, he’s been involved in at least 42% of their shots at every World Cup tournament.
Lionel Messi didn’t need the 2026 World Cup to prove his brilliance, but he’s cemented his position as the greatest footballer ever nonetheless.
The 2022 final was supposed to be Lionel Messi’s last World Cup match. He even said so himself.
“I am very happy for finishing my journey in World Cups in a final, to play the last game in a final,” exclaimed Messi following Argentina’s 3-0 semi-final victory over Croatia in December 2022.
But here we are, four years later, and with Messi still running the show.
Now 39, Sunday will see Messi become the oldest outfield player to play in a men’s World Cup final (39 years, 25 days old), with only Italian goalkeeper Dino Zoff (40 years, 133 days old in 1982) doing so at an older age.
Based on his form at the 2026 tournament, there’s every chance he becomes the oldest goalscorer in a World Cup final too, breaking Nils Liedholm’s record from the 1958 showpiece between Sweden and Brazil (35y, 264d).
The final will also be his 34th appearance at the World Cup overall, taking him seven clear of nearest rival Cristiano Ronaldo.
Widely considered his biggest competitor in the debate over the greatest player of their generation, Messi has moved even further clear of the Portuguese during this tournament. While Ronaldo ended with yet more World Cup disappointment, Messi has only become even more effective with age.
And just like the 2022 tournament, Messi has almost single-handedly carried Argentina to this final.
He’s either scored (eight) or assisted (four) 12 of Argentina’s 19 goals at this World Cup (63%), while he even provided the cross that led to Diney Borges’ match-winning own goal in the last-32 tie with Cape Verde. En route to the 2022 final, Messi had a hand in eight of their 12 goals (67%), before adding two more goals in the final against France.
He’s the only player at this World Cup to be involved in at least half of his team’s shots, either as the creator of that chance or the player to register the attempt. His proportional involvement of 52.7% is almost identical to 2022 (53.0%) when he led Argentina to glory.
His 59 shot involvements (34 shots, 25 chances created) is 41 more than any other Argentine at this World Cup, with Alexis Mac Allister’s 18 the next most in the squad.
Not since Diego Maradona in 1986 has a nation seemed to rely so much on a player as Argentina have in the era of Messi. Bar his first World Cup in 2006, when Messi played just 121 of the 510 possible minutes, he’s been involved in at least 42% of their shots at every World Cup tournament.
Since 1966, only seven players have been involved in 30+ shots at a World Cup and contributed to at least half of their team’s shots (either a chance created or shot attempted). Two of those are Messi, in 2022 and 2026, while another was Maradona in 1986 (55.7%).
Of course, we all know Messi is now the top scorer in World Cup history, powering past Miroslav Klose’s 16-goal tally to reach 21 to date. Kylian Mbappé is likely to overtake that total in years to come, but despite being such a sensational goalscorer, Mbappé is unlikely to leave a legacy anywhere near as strong as Messi’s.
Messi’s total of 12 goals or assists in 2026 is only eclipsed by Gerd Müller’s 13 in 1970 for West Germany at any World Cup since 1966 (as far back as assists are recorded), while he also now leads the all-time World Cup assist rankings since that date (12), overtaking Maradona’s eight during this tournament.
Despite being named the best player at the 2014 World Cup, Messi’s overall tallies for goals and assists at the tournament had somewhat underwhelmed across his first four tournaments. That has certainly not been the case since the 2022 finals, though.
Messi has tallied 22 goal involvements in 14 World Cup appearances over the last two tournaments (15 goals, 7 assists), which is unsurprisingly more than any other player. In between the 2006 and 2018 finals, Messi scored (6) or assisted (5) half that number (11) from five more appearances (19).
His impact has been even greater in the knockout stages, when it’s mattered most. Messi famously hadn’t scored a goal in a World Cup knockout match going into Qatar 2022, despite being involved in eight such games. Over eight knockout matches in 2022 and 2026, he’s scored seven goals and assisted six more.
His two most recent assists came in the semi-final comeback win over England, with Thomas Tuchel’s questionable tactics in the last third of the game criminally allowing Messi the opportunity to get on the ball in the final third, where he inflicted maximum damage after a quiet opening hour.
Messi’s first came following a quick short corner that England were slow to react to, finding Enzo Fernández in acres of space on the edge of the box to fire in an equaliser. His second was a beautiful cross with his ‘weaker’ right foot that was delivered inch-perfect onto Lautaro Martínez’s head right in front of goal.
That was one of six open-play crosses that Messi delivered on the night, his highest tally in a World Cup game, beating his previous highs set in the previous two matches against Switzerland (5) and Egypt (4). All 15 of those came after half-time across those three matches, with only two before the hour mark.
It could have been Lionel Scaloni’s decision, but it was more likely a combination of the freedom afforded to Messi and his exceptional in-game intelligence that saw him naturally drift from more central areas of the pitch to wider on the right. He has done that in the second half of Argentina’s last three games when they were either behind or level.
Much of Messi’s brilliance is to drift into positions unnoticed, despite opponents attempting to keep a close eye on him, and it has allowed him to grow into games at this tournament. In their last three matches, Messi has had 88 touches in the first half and 200 after half-time (which includes 30 minutes of extra-time vs Switzerland). That’s 59 first-half touches per 90 minutes played, and 109 touches per 90 after half-time.
His touch-zone map from his three most recent World Cup appearances, comparing his first-half touches with touches after half-time, perfectly displays this and his preference to drift away from the middle of the pitch as opponents sit in a low block and allow more space out wide.
This is just another string to Messi’s bow – and not a new one by any stretch of the imagination – but he’s still the most dangerous player in world football in the central zone just outside the box. ‘The hole’, or ‘zone 14’ as it’s sometimes labelled, is Messi’s natural habitat.
It’s been no different in this tournament, with 19% of his open-play touches coming in that area of the pitch – the highest proportion he’s ever had in that zone at a World Cup, and up from 16% in 2022. Sixteen of his 34 shots have come from that area on the pitch (47%), too – another tournament high.
With the captain so integral to their style, it’s no coincidence that Argentina, as a team, have had a tournament-high 33.1% of their attacking-half touches in the central third of the pitch.
While Messi had achieved unparalleled success individually with a record seven Ballons d’Or and a World Cup Golden Ball for his performances in 2014 to add to a host of major club honours, success on the international stage had deserted him until 2021.
But playing a key role – finishing as joint-top scorer and winner of the best player award – in Argentina’s 2021 Copa América win after three failed attempts in the 2007, 2015 and 2016 finals changed all that. Since then, Argentina have won the World Cup in 2022 and another Copa América title in 2024, with Messi again an integral player in both successes.
A win in the final on Sunday would mean Argentina have won the last four major international tournaments they’ve played in, all coming since Messi played his last game for Barcelona in May 2021.
It’s impossible to know for sure, but perhaps a move away from the club he joined in 2001 as a young teenager gave him a new focus for international football.
Either way, it’s apt that Messi will see out his illustrious World Cup career in a meeting with Spain, where he has spent most of his life, and where he enjoyed 17 sensational seasons as a top-flight footballer at Barça, scoring a record 672 goals in a record 778 appearances.
Even with victory, Messi wouldn’t be able to replicate Pelé’s record tally of three World Cup titles with Brazil between 1958 and 1970, but he would join a select group with two tournament wins.
Many had written off the potential impact Messi could have at these finals, with the veteran star now plying his trade in Major League Soccer, ranked as the 18th strongest league in the latest Opta Power Rankings.
They were wrong.
Messi is still just as impactful at 39 as he was in his peak years, just in new ways. He certainly didn’t need to be the most impactful player at this World Cup to prove he’s the greatest footballer of all time, but he’s done it anyway.
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