Lionel Messi ‘inventing’ records at the World Cup

Lionel Messi became the first footballer to score in all phases of the same tournament. The ‘10′ scored in the group stage, round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinal and in the final, thanks to the penalty kick against France in the first half. Of the seven games Argentina played in Qatar 2022, they only failed to score in one: against Poland in the group stage round, in which goalkeeper Wojciech Szczęsny saved a penalty from the PSG man.

World Cup round-by-round scoring

The only player who had scored in all rounds before, including the final, was the Brazilian Jairzinho in Mexico 1970. However, only 16 teams participated in that tournament and the round of 16 was not played. The unique record of Jairzinho is, however, that he scored in all six games that Brazil played in that World Cup, where they won the three-time championship after beating Italy 4-1 in the final played at the Azteca stadium.

At Sweden 1958, the Frenchman Just Fontaine also scored in the six games France played, but did not play in the final, as he played the duel for third place, in which he scored four goals against Germany.

Italian Salvatore Schillaci in 1990, Croatian Davor Suker in 1998 and Brazilian Ronaldo in 2002 also scored in six separate matches. The first two scored in all the phases they played, until the duel for third place that corresponded to them to play.

In the case of the Fenómeno, he scored in six of Brazil’s seven games on their way to the title in Korea-Japan 2002, including a brace against Germany in the final. He only did not score in the quarterfinals, in a 2-1 win over England.