Lionel Messi has eight assists for Argentina at World Cups. And with that, he has equaled Diego Maradona as Argentina’s top assistor at the tournament. 

Before Tuesday’s semi-final began, Messi needed one more assist to equal Diego Maradona’s total of eight at World Cups. Messi has had five goals and three assists in this World Cup alone. The GOAT Messi also leads Argentina in World Cup goals, with eleven to his name.

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On Saturday, in the quarterfinals with the Netherlands, Messi threaded a terrific ball to defender Nahuel Molina, who netted the ball, to register his fifth successful assist in a World Cup knockout fixture.

He surpassed Pele’s four assists to create the record for most assists in an eliminator in the World Cup finals. Messi also became the player to provide more World Cup assists than any other active player, which at the time, was a total of seven. He had the same number of assists as Poland’s Grzegorz Lato and German Pierre Littbarski.   

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There was some speculation about Messi’s possibility of missing out on the game against Croatia in the semifinal after his heated temperament during Argentina’s quarterfinal match against the Netherlands last weekend.

Messi was seen clashing with his opponent team’s coach Louis van Gaal as well as criticizing FIFA referee Antonio Mateu Lahoz. In the end, the dramatic match ended in a draw, and Argentina ended up defeating the Dutch in a penalty shootout. Disciplinary action was initiated against Messi by FIFA after he criticized the match referee. 

Messi was cautioned by the referee in the 10th minute of the second half extra time. After that, the Spanish referee was criticized by Messi. According to FIFA World Cup rules, if a referee reports such an occurrence in his match report, FIFA may investigate and initiate disciplinary action against the player.