Bullet point summary by AI
Lionel Messi has become the World Cup’s all-time leader in assists with 12, surpassing previous records.At 39 years old, Messi has achieved this milestone while also holding records for most goals and appearances in World Cup history as well.Messi has created goals for 11 different teammates across six tournaments.
Even at 39 years old, this has been Lionel Messi’s World Cup, and it could be Messi’s World Cup trophy once again too. Across seven matches this summer, he has scored eight goals and racked up 12 assists for good measure, bagging a hat-trick against Algeria on match day one, and never really looking back.
He is now the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer with 21 goals, shattering Mirosłav Klose’s previous record of 16. (Albeit Kylian Mbappé has done so too, just one behind.) Argentina’s semifinal win against England on Tuesday was Messi’s 33rd outing at the World Cup, also the record, ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo (27) and Lothar Matthäus (25). Now, he has the clean sweep: He is the record holder for appearances, goals and assists with 12. But that last number is more remarkable than it appears.
World Cup players with most assists in history
Players
Nation
World Cup career
Total assists
Lionel Messi
Argentina
2006-present
12
Diego Maradona
Argentina
1982-1994
8
Pierre Littbarski
West Germany
1982-1990
7
Grzegorz Lato
Poland
1974-1982
7
Note: Statistics courtesy of Opta; only includes statistics from 1966 onwards.
These records underline Messi’s greatness. He stands above all else when it comes to longevity, goal-scoring and also creating, the greatest of all-time in every respect, apart from maybe taking penalties. There is though something astonishing about his 12 World Cup assists. This is the fact that they have all created goals scored by 11 different Argentine teammates.
Lionel Messi’s 12 World Cup assists
Year
Match
Teammate assisted
2006
6-0 win vs. Serbia & Montenegro
Hernán Crespo
2010
3-1 win vs. Mexico
Carlos Tévez
2014
1-0 win vs. Switzerland
Ángel Di María
2018
4-3 loss vs. France
Gabriel Mercado
2018
4-3 loss vs. France
Sergio Agüero
2022
2-0 win vs. Mexico
Enzo Fernández
2022
2-2 draw vs. Netherlands
Nahuel Molina
2022
3-0 win vs. Croatia
Julián Álvarez
2026
3-2 win vs. Egypt
Cristian Romero
2026
3-1 win vs. Switzerland
Alexis Mac Allister
2026
2-1 win vs. England
Enzo Fernández
2026
2-1 win vs. England
Lautaro Martínez
Messi has recorded at least one assist at all six World Cups he has featured at, 11 of 12 of them to different players.
That is what makes the record so remarkable. Messi has not built his World Cup assist total by repeatedly feeding one familiar strike partner; he has created goals for 11 different teammates across six tournaments and three distinct generations of Argentina teams. The names around him have changed, the plays have evolved and nearly two decades have passed, but Messi has remained the constant source of invention.
On Wednesday in Atlanta, he did something for the very first time though, and that was face England. Across 205 international caps, the great man has come up against 58 different national teams, scoring against 45 of them, but never England. This is a major outlier. Of the 20 teams to play the most World Cup matches, England is the only side he has never met.
After their win Tuesday, Messi will play against Spain in the final at MetLife on Sunday.
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