Photos: EFE
Qatar World Cup, which elevated Messi, added to the claims, and fueled controversy. He has also made his mark in the form of competition records, with the Argentine star topping almost all rankings.
Messi, the number for history
World Fifth: Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Mexican Andres Guardado and Guillermo Ochoa He joined the club de los Cinco, already composed of Antonio Carbajal, Lothar Matthaus, Paolo Maldini and Gianluigi Buffon, as the player with the most World Cup appearances.
More number of matches: Messi, who arrived in Qatar six games behind Matthäus (19 in four editions), went all the way to the final. His 26 World Cup appearances is a new record which is difficult to reach.
High number of minutes played: La Pulga played everything in Qatar, 7 games with 2 overtimes (in the quarter-finals against the Netherlands and in the final against France) which put him at the top of the standings, with 2,314 minutes, Surpassed by Italian Paolo Maldini, who accumulated 2216.
Most Games as Captain: The 7 parties In which he is wearing the bracelet, his mark as Albiceleste’s captain has gone up to 19. He left behind Mexican Rafa Marquez (17) and Diego Maradona himself (16).
Longest time since first goal and last in World Cup: He scored his first goal on 16 June 2006 against Serbia, and closed his account 5,999 days later (16 years, 5 months and 2 days) in the final done. against France. He is also the only person to have scored as a twenty-something and thirty-something before the age of 20.
Argentina’s top scorer and first scorer in four World Cups: he conceded 7 goals in Qatar, the most in all World Cups in which he has participated, which put him at the top of the classification of Argentina’s scorers at the World Cup and In which he led Gabriel Batistuta (10) and ranked fourth in the world rankings, with 13 points, behind German Miroslav Klose (16), Brazilian Ronaldo (15) and tied with French Just Fontaine.
South American with most wins: Argentina’s 4 World Cup wins (Mexico, Poland, Australia and Croatia) he surpassed Pele (12 wins) and with 16 wins he is second only to German Miroslav Klose as the only player I stayed behind. World Cup Successes. A defeat against Saudi Arabia and a draw against the Netherlands and France (penalties did not count) deprived them of leading the standings alone.
