The man of this sport.
Lionel Messi and Argentina are facing Algeria this Wednesday, June 17. Both teams are making their debut in the 2026 World Cup.
After just over 30 minutes of play, it’s fair to say that the football legend has made the perfect start to his tournament.
His offside goal in the 5th minute helped him get going. Barely ten minutes later, the forward found the back of the net again. This time for real.
Thanks to this goal, Lionel Messi has moved into a category no one had ever reached before.
In his sixth World Cup, Lionel Messi has scored his 14th goal. He draws level with Kylian Mbappé and Gerd Müller, but above all moves past Just Fontaine. That puts him on the podium. Ronaldo Nazário (15) and Miroslav Klose (16) are no longer very far away.
He becomes the first player to reach the mark of 22 goal contributions: 14 goals, 8 key passes. No other player has been so decisive on the international stage.
This long-range strike, which opened the scoring, was his fifth goal from outside the box in this competition. Since 1966, no player had scored as many.
Finally, Lionel Messi joins Cristiano Ronaldo and becomes the second player to score in five different World Cups (2006, 2014, 2018, 2022, 2026).
Before we see another player like him…
Do you think Lionel Messi will claim a second World Cup title?
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.
