As Argentina advances to the World Cup final with a three-goal victory over Croatia in the semifinals, Lionel Messi broke four World Cup records.
Following Julian Alvarez’s collision with Croatian goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic inside the penalty area, Messi scored the game’s first goal with a strong left-footed finish to give his team the lead. Messi scored Argentina’s record World Cup goal when he successfully converted the ensuing penalty.
Messi came into this World Cup expecting to set six personal records. While he will be entirely focused on motivating his team to victory on Sunday in the championship game against the winner of the other semi-final between France and Morocco, Messi added four more on Tuesday.
Messi made a miraculous solo pass for Alvarez to knock in from close range for Argentina’s third goal. Before setting it up for Messi to score, Messi twisted and turned past Croatian defender Josko Gvardiol in an impressive move.
With that, Messi broke Diego Maradona’s long-standing record of eight direct goal assists for Argentina and became the World Cup’s leading assist provider with nine for his country.
Messi has now contributed to a goal in four different World Cup contests, including three against the Netherlands and Mexico this year and one in a 6-0 victory against Serbia and Montenegro in the 2006 group stage.
As a result, the illustrious forward made World Cup history by becoming the first person to have scored and provided an assist in four different games since records have been kept in 1966. Messi is still aiming for one more record, though.
On Tuesday against Croatia, the PSG superstar appeared in his 25th World Cup match, tying him with former Germany stalwart Lothar Matthaus for the most appearances in tournament history. In his 26th appearance, Messi will break the record in the World Cup final on Sunday.
The 35-year-old has had a standout tournament for his country in Qatar, scoring five goals and dishing out three assists while helping to set up eight of their 12 goals through their first seven games.
Prior to helping Argentina upset Mexico by a score of two in their second group stage match, Messi also scored from the penalty spot in Argentina’s opening match against Saudi Arabia.
The former Barcelona star was stopped from scoring from the spot in the game’s two-goal triumph over Poland, but he did it against Australia in the Round of 16 and then again against the Netherlands.