Messi’s ups and downs vs Egypt
*Lionel Messi is the second player to score eight goals in a single World Cup tournament for Argentina, following Guillermo Stábile in 1930.
*Messi extended to 9 games his unprecedented scoring run in World Cups (4 in 2022, 5 in 2026).
*Messi becomes the first player in history to score in six consecutive World Cup knockout stage matches.
*Messi is the sixth player to score in each of his first five matches of a World Cup tournament, following:
Just Fontaine (France, 1958),
Jairzinho (Brazil, 1970),
Gerd Müller (Germany, 1970),
Rivaldo (Brazil, 2002),
James Rodríguez (Colombia, 2014).
*Messi has scored eight goals at the 2026 World Cup, the most by a player through a team’s opening five games of a single edition since Gerd Müller in 1970 (10 goals for Germany).
*Messi is the third player in history involved in two goals within five minutes or less to erase a two-goal deficit in a World Cup knockout match, after:
Abdulrahman Fawzi (Egypt, 1934, round of 16, vs Hungary 2-4)
Kylian Mbappé (France, 2022, final, vs Argentina 3-3)
*Egypt became the 15th opponent Messi has scored against in World Cups.
*Messi became the oldest player in history (39 years and 13 days) to both score and provide an assist in a World Cup knockout stage match.
The previous record was held by Nils Liedholm (35 years, in 1958).
*Messi has scored nearly half of all World Cup goals (8 out of 17) by players over the age of 38.
The others such scorers are: Roger Milla (Cameroon, 5), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal, 3), Pepe (Portugal, 1).
*Messi has now scored more goals at the World Cup and Copa America combined (35) than Diego Maradona ever scored for Argentina across all competitions and friendlies (34).
*Messi has played his 14th World Cup knockout stage match, tying Miroslav Klose’s record (14 such games for Germany).
The next are: Lothar Matthäus (Germany), Cafu (Brazil), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany), 12 each.
*With this appearance, Lionel Messi has played exactly in a third of the World Cup games in Argentina’s history (31 out of 93).
*Messi became again the player with most penalties taken (8) in the history of the World Cup, leaving Harry Kane (7) behind.
*Messi suffered his 4th penalty miss in World Cups. Only one other players has multiple misses: Asamoah Gyan (Ghana, 2).
*Messi became the first ever player in the history of the World Cup to miss two penalties (excluding shootouts) in a single edition (also vs Austria).