Lionel Messi has broken yet another record in the wake of his World Cup win with Argentina in Qatar.
The diminutive magician, who scored twice in the World Cup final and picked up the golden ball for the best player at the tournament, finally laid claim to the one trophy that had eluded him his entire career as Argentina beat France on penalties in what will go down as the greatest World Cup of all time.
And, on his way to the final, Argentina’s no.10 broke plenty of long-standing records. These included
- Lionel Messi is the first player to score in the group stage, round of 16, quater-final, semi-final and final in a single edition of the World Cup.
- With 13 goals and 8 assists, Lionel Messi’s 21 goal involvements are the most of any player on record at the World Cup.
- Lionel Messi is the all-time record holder for most games played at the World Cup (26).
- Lionel Messi has scored 4 penalty goals in this World Cup, equalling the highest tally for a player in the same edition (4 for Rob Rensenbrink in 1978 and 4 for Eusébio in 1966).
- Lionel Messi has become the first player to both score and assist in four separate World Cup matches (since the 1966 edition).
- Lionel Messi has assisted five goals in the World Cup knockout stages, this is the most on record in the knockout rounds of the finals, surpassing Pelé’s four.
- No player has created more chances in World Cup history than Lionel Messi (since records began in 1966).
- Lionel Messi has now scored 13 goals at the World Cup, the most of any Argentina player in the competition’s history.
In the wake of the final, however, Lionel Messi continues to break records, this time off the pitch rather than on it.
This comes as his celebratory instagram post has now become the most liked post in the social media’s history, overtaking the egg [yes, egg] that had previously held the crown.
His 57m likes (and counting) takes him almost a million clear of second place on the platform at the time of writing.
