With the penalty goal scored against Croatia in the semi-final of the Qatar Cup, Lionel Messi overtook Gabriel Batistuta and became Argentina’s top scorer in World Cups.
The number 10, captain of his selection, opened the scoring in the 34th minute of the first half, with a penalty kicked hard into the angle by goalkeeper Livakovic, with no chance of defense.
The goal was Messi’s fifth in the World Cup (the third from the penalty spot) and his 11th in World Cups – he also scored in 2006 (once), 2014 (four) and 2018 (once). Batistuta, who played in the 1994, 1998 and 2002 World Cups, is now second on Argentina’s list, with ten goals.
In this Cup, before scoring against the Croatians at the Lusail stadium, Messi left his mark against Saudi Arabia, Mexico (both in the group stage), Australia (in the round of 16) and Holland (in the quarterfinals ).
With 11 goals, the Argentine top scorer moved to sixth place among the players who scored the most in World Cups, tied with the German Jürgen Klinsmann and the Hungarian Sandor Kocsis.
The top 5 is formed by Miroslav Klose (Germany, 16 goals), Ronaldo Fenômeno (15 goals), Gerd Müller (Germany, 14 goals), Just Fontaine (France, 13 goals) and Pelé (12 goals).
When entering the field in the semifinal match, Messi had already obtained another record, that of the player with the most matches played in World Cups, 25, the same number as the German Lothar Matthäus, captain of the winning team at the 1990 World Cup, in Italy.
The Argentine ace, moreover, became the record holder of appearances in Cups as captain of a national team, 18 times, one more than the Mexican defender Rafa Márquez.
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