Argentina's two World Cup records await Messi

Argentina will play the opening match of Group C of the World Cup 2022 against Saudi Arabia on November 22. This is almost certainly Lionel Messi's 20th match at the biggest football festival on the planet, just one match short of Diego Maradona's record. If he plays all three matches in the group stage, Messi will set a new record of Argentine football.

Also having 19 World Cup matches like Messi is Javier Mascherano, who retired at the end of 2020. In the past, Maradona attended four World Cups, in which he played 14 matches of two tournaments 1986 and 1990. In 1994, Maradona was banned from playing against Bulgaria in the final round of the group stage for using a banned substance. Argentina lost this match and then lost to Romania in the round of 16.

Maradona scored eight goals across four World Cups, two goals short of the best record of an Argentine player, belonging to Gabriel Batistuta. Messi currently has six goals and needs five more to set a new record for tango football. Four of Messi's six goals were in the 2014 World Cup, where he led Argentina to the final.

Messi holds the two most important records of the Argentina team, the number of matches (164) and the number of goals (90). He has served Argentina for 17 years, equal to Javier Zanetti's time and more than any other Argentinian player.

Messi is playing well at both club and national team level. He scored four goals for Argentina in an international friendly at the end of September and is one of the best attacking players in Europe right now, with 12 goals and 14 assists in 18 games for PSG. The 2022 World Cup will be the last World Cup in Messi's career, according to his assertion on October 7.

Besides Saudi Arabia, Argentina also meets Mexico and Poland in Group C of the World Cup 2022. "La Albiceleste" on the way to search for the third world championship in history, after the 1978 and 1986 periods.