Messi breaks Pele's World Cup record

In the 35th minute, Messi dribbled in the middle of the road past Nathan Ake, then poked the gap to clear the ground for Molina to enter the penalty area and then kicked the toe to knock down goalkeeper Andries Noppert. "Messi is really not human, because no one can see a pass like that," commented SportBible.

Messi has assisted five goals in the knockout rounds of the World Cup, surpassing the old record of "King of Football" Pele (four times), according to statistics firm Opta. Messi benefits when this statistical firm only recorded assists from the 1966 World Cup in England. In addition, in the 1974-1982 period, the World Cup took place in the format of two group stages, so the knockout round was only kicked from the semi-finals.

Before that, Pele had attended the 1958 and 1962 World Cups. At the 1958 World Cup, he scored three goals in the knockout round but did not provide an assist for his teammates to score. In 1962, he was injured in the group stage and missed the end of the tournament.

Messi's first assist in the knockout round of the World Cup was in the round of 16 in 2010, with a pass for Carlos Tevez to score in a 3-1 win over Mexico. Four years later, he helped Angel di Maria score the only goal in the 118th minute against Switzerland also in the 1/8 round. Also in this round at the 2018 World Cup, Messi created two goals, for Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Mercado in a 3-4 defeat to France. The pass for Molina to score was the first time Messi has assisted a goal in the quarter-finals.

Leading 2-0, Argentina was again equalized 2-2 to have to play extra time and penalty shootouts. It was Messi who successfully scored the first penalty, helping Argentina win 4-3 and reach the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia.