Lionel Messi continues to rewrite World Cup and football history. In the quarter-final against Switzerland, the Argentine star overtook Pelé to become the outright all-time leader for ****** ists in the competition.
The milestone came from the corner that led to Alexis Mac Allister's opener, the first goal of the match. It was Messi's second ****** ist at the 2026 World Cup and the 10th of his career in the finals, spread across six editions.
The Argentina international, who is already the all-time leading goalscorer in World Cup history, became the first player to reach 10 ****** ists, moving beyond Pelé's nine. In the match against Egypt, when he set up Cristián Romero, Messi had already gone past Diego Maradona, who had eight ****** ists, and matched the former Brazil international.
Messi has also now matched the number of direct goal involvements he recorded at the World Cup in 2022.
The 2022 edition was defined by Lionel Messi's crowning moment, as he led Argentina to the world ****** le with memorable displays. Four years on, at 39, the Albiceleste captain is still raising the bar and is already posting numbers better than those he managed in Qatar.