“Yes, surely, yes,” he confirmed. Lionel Messi when he was asked if the final of the Argentine team next Sunday will be his last game in a World Cup, while he further enlarges his legend in football and in this competition, record by record, already at the level of Lothar Matthaus as the player with the most matches in the tournament, one victory away from equaling Miroslav Klose’s 17 wins, already ahead of Gabriel Batistuta as the top Argentine scorer in this event with eleven goals.
“In the end, what we want is the other (to be world champion with Argentina). All this is fine, but the important thing is to be able to achieve the group objective, which is the most beautiful thing of all. We are one step away after fighting a lot “, expressed the ’10’ of the Albiceleste, beyond individual records for history, focused on reaching the top with his country in their last World Cup match.
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“There are many years for the next one (in 2026) and I don’t think it will give me. Ending this way is the best.” One game left. The final.
At that time he will go further than anyone in terms of the number of matches in the World Cups.
more and more brands
In its fifth edition, from Germany 2006 to Qatar 2022 (a fact only within the reach of the Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo), the Mexicans Andrés Guardado, Guillermo Ochoa, Rafa Márquez and Antonio Carbajal, the Italian Gianluigi Buffon and the German Lothar Matthäus), will reach 26 games in the final phase of the tournament, one more than Matthäus, whom he equaled as soon as the semifinal match against Croatia began.
Gone are more and more names for the eternity of the world Cup, like the German Miroslav Klose, with 24 games; the Italian Paolo Maldini, with 23 and who Messi can also surpass in the final as the footballer with the most minutes in the history of the World Cup, as soon as he plays more than 23 minutes (the ‘azzurro’ winger added 2,217 and Messi goes for 2,194); or your compatriot Diego Armando Maradona, At 21, the last figure of an Argentina champion of the planet, who led his team in Mexico 1986, as Messi is now doing in Qatar 2022.
There is no longer anyone who has been captain in this competition more times than Messi, with 19 games, above the 18 registered by the Mexican Rafael Marquez and, in the specific case of Argentina, of Maradona’s 16, the third in that statistic.
Nor is there anyone who has given some assistance in five different editions like him (PeléGrzegorz Lato, Maradona and david beckham they did it in three).
And he has equaled the Brazilian legend in terms of assists in the qualifiers, with six each, after beating Croatia 3-0 at Julian Alvarez.
No one has won, either, more times the award for the best player of each game, established since the edition of Japan and Korea 2022than Messi, who has received it ten times, the last one this Tuesday in the 3-0 victory against Croatia, with a penalty goal and an assist.
And only Klose has won more matches than him in the World Cups: 17 victories, compared to the 16 that the magnificent Argentine soccer player accumulates… with the final remaining. The youngest goalscorer for the Albiceleste in a World Cup, also the one who debuted the earliest, when both brands met at 18 years and 357 days against Serbia and Montenegro on June 16, 2006, he is also their top scorer, surpassed, from this Tuesday, Gabriel Batistuta.
He scored ten in 12 games (four in the United States 1994, five in France 1998 and one each in Japan and Korea 2002). And Messi has added eleven in 25 duels, six already in Qatar 2022, where he has participated in nine of the 12 Argentine goals.
He already left behind William Stabile (8 goals in 4 games), Diego Armando Maradona (8 goals in 21 games), Mario Alberto Kempes (6 goals in 18 games)… Just as he surpassed everyone in the number of matches in a World Cup with the Albiceleste, with the 25 he has now, and four more than Maradona’s 21 (five in Spain 1982, seven in Mexico 1986, seven in Italy 1990 and two in the United States 1994) or Javier Mascherano’s 20 (five in Germany 2006, four in South Africa 2010 and seven in Brazil 2014).
Statistics don’t lie
Messi is not only limited to the World Cup in the marks for history with Argentina. Nobody has played more games than him with the light blue and white shirt of his country, with 171, ahead of the 147 of Javier Mascherano, second, or Javier Zanettithird with 145.
Neither has anyone been a starter more times (155) nor has anyone scored more goals: 96, 40 more than Bastistuta achieved in 78 duels, 55 more than Sergio ‘Kun’ Agüero in 101 games, 61 more than Hernan Crespo in 64 commitments, 34 more than Diego Armando Maradona in 91 games…
Nor has anyone given more assists than him, 41, to the 21 of his immediate pursuer, still active, among those also called up for the 2022 World Cup, Angel Di Maria.
Nor has anyone scored a goal in as many games with Argentina as he, in 68, to Batistuta’s 41. Neither he nor he has done more ‘doublets’ (10) or ‘triplets’ (7). He has not achieved more goals from the bench (11 in 16 games). Nor has he achieved so many victories: 105. There remains one pending, the most important, the one he always dreamed of: the 2022 World Cup final.
Your message
In his instagram, Messi published a message that has gone around the world and has gone viral.
“TO THE FINAL! We came back to gain strength to play another great game. Thank you very much to all those who trusted this group!!! Let’s go Argentina damn!!!”, he wrote.
The comments have been thousands, by what feels the big support that has received the ’10’.
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EFE
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