Lionel Messi, the captain of Argentina, has nine goals overall in World Cup history, second only to Gabriel Batistuta’s tally of ten when it comes to the Albiceleste. However, Messi’s goal in Argentina’s 2-1 victory over Australia in the round of 16 marked his first in a World Cup knockout phase. 

Messi carried the ball 1187 metres farther than any other player in the World Cup besides centre backs, according to OptaJoe. With a distance of 972 metres, Spanish midfielder Pedri is in second place, and American forward Christian Pulisic is in third place with a distance of 965 metres.

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Carrying the ball refers to the action when players move the ball away from defenders while keeping it near to their feet and on the ground. And therefore, carrying the ball well becomes a very valuable action for any given team.

Because he doesn’t drop deep to recover the ball or aid in the build-up, Cristiano Ronaldo is no longer coveted by elite European teams. He waits for the ball to come to him and is possibly getting slower for the fast-paced football of today.

Messi’s performance against Poland made him the oldest player (since 1966) to ever generate five or more opportunities and finish five or more dribbles in a World Cup game. Formerly the oldest was Maradona’s 1994 matchup with Nigeria.

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In the whole history of the World Cup, only Maradona has created more chances. Messi created 63. Maradona created 67.

With his goal against Mexico, Messi extended Argentina’s scoring streak to six straight games and a total of 12 goals, which is his best run on the international stage. With his missed penalty against Poland, he blew the chance to make that streak seven games long.

Messi has scored seven goals and recorded seven assists in his last 10 games for club and country. In 25 games for the club and nation since the start of the 2022–23 season, the 35-year-old has notched 19 goals and 16 assists.

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Thus, a goal occurs every 112 minutes, an assist occurs every 133 minutes, and a direct contribution—goals and assists—occurs every 61 minutes.

With his goals in the Champions League match against Maccabi Haifa at the end of October, Messi became the first player from a team in one of the top five leagues in Europe to reach double digits in both goals and assists for the year.

This season, Messi leads all players in Europe’s top five divisions in assists (10). Messi (17) is the only player in Europe’s top leagues this season to have more combined goals and assists than his PSG teammate Neymar (20) and Man City great Erling Haaland (21).

This season, he has completed 47 dribbles, 10 more than any other player in Europe’s top divisions.

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Only his Argentina teammate Angel Di Maria has executed more effective dribbles at the World Cup thus far (nine – Messi has eight). In the Qatar 2022 group stage, only Antoine Griezmann (11) has completed more important passes (the last pass before a teammate shoots at the goal). Messi has nine.

Messi and Kylian Mbappe of PSG are tied for first place in the World Cup thus far in terms of predicted goals (2.4xG), and only Mbappe has more shots on target (seven compared to Messi’s six).

The Argentina captain currently holds the top spot at the World Cup for progressive passes (through FBref), having tallied 26, four more than any other player. A progressive pass is any completed pass that takes the ball into the opponent’s penalty area or within 10 yards (30 feet) of the goal.