The Unrivalled Greatness of Messi's Argentina Career
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Lionel Messi has finally achieved it all in football. Following on from countless titles across Europe, Spain and France, the legendary Argentina has now secured a Copa America and the World Cup within the past 18 months.
We run through the incredible history of the man from Rosario with his country.
Goals and Assists
Messi has now scored 98 times for his nation and registered 55 assists after his magical efforts in Qatar. This also saw him become the first player in World Cup history to make 26 appearances at the finals, surpassing Lothar Matthaus (25).
The Argentina captain has now also taken his goal tally to 13 at the World Cup, and with his eight assists too, no player in the competition's history has been involved in as many goals as him (21) since records began in 1966.
Messi first scored back in 2006 in a friendly against Croatia, as he assisted his first goal against Peru a few months earlier.
What makes Messi's goalscoring for his country even more sensational is how he has been the top scorer for Argentina for six years already, surpassing Gabriel Batistuta's record of 54 back in 2016.
Copa America
When Cristiano Ronaldo won the Euro 2016 title, many considered him to be the best to ever do it. Fast forward to 2021 and Messi would put himself in this bracket of international greatness with a triumph at the Copa America.
More impressively, unlike Ronaldo at Euro 2016, Messi would be the top scorer en route to his respective triumph with Argentina with four goals.
He also claimed the best player award after a stunning five assists too, including two in a quarter-finals battle with Ecuador.
In reality, as far as efforts go, Messi’s has been unrivalled with his national team and his performance at the 2021 Copa America were about as good as it gets.
World Cup
Argentina were not the favourites prior to the start of the 2022 World Cup, as France, rivals Brazil and England were all ahead of the 1986 winners.
As time went on, however, it began to look like this was finally the time Messi would cement himself as the best to ever touch a football.
Kylian Mbappe would outscore Messi with eight goals compared to his seven, but with three assists too, the Argentina captain was clearly the best player at the tournament.
Moreover, by winning the Golden Ball in 2022, he's also become the first player to win the award twice with his stunning performances against the Netherlands, Croatia, Mexico, Poland, France and Australia.
In fact, by scoring goals in the group stages, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final, Messi has become the first player in history to score a goal at every stage of the World Cup finals.
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