Lionel Messi has continued to strengthen his legendary status at the FIFA World Cup 2026 after inspiring Argentina to the final, setting new all-time tournament records while reclaiming the lead in the Golden Boot race ahead of the decisive showdown with Spain.<\/p>\n
Messi produced two assists in Argentina’s semifinal victory over England, raising his total to 33 goal contributions\u2014goals and assists combined\u2014in FIFA World Cup history, becoming the competition’s all-time leader in that category.<\/p>\n
The Argentina captain also matched another historic milestone by becoming only the second player ever to appear in three FIFA World Cup finals, equaling Brazilian legend Cafu’s achievement.<\/p>\n
These latest accomplishments further reinforce Messi’s legacy as one of the greatest players in World Cup history, highlighting his consistency and influence across multiple editions of the tournament.<\/p>\n
Alongside his record-breaking performances, Messi has regained first place in the race for the Golden Boot after reaching eight goals and four assists during the tournament.<\/p>\n
He now leads France’s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, who has also scored eight goals but has registered three assists, giving Messi the advantage under the tournament’s official tiebreaking criteria.<\/p>\n
Norway’s Erling Haaland, as well as England’s Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane, remain among the leading scorers heading into the final stages of the competition.<\/p>\n
Messi enters the World Cup final with the chance to add even more milestones to his remarkable career, whether by increasing his goal tally, extending his assist record, or guiding Argentina to another world title.<\/p>\n
The final also presents an opportunity for the Argentine captain to capture the Golden Boot for the first time while further extending his remarkable statistical achievements on football’s biggest stage.<\/p>\n
Argentina’s clash with Spain will carry enormous significance for Messi, combining the pursuit of another FIFA World Cup title with the battle for the tournament’s top individual honors.<\/p>\n
While the Golden Boot race remains open until the final whistle, Messi has already placed himself at the center of another historic World Cup campaign through a series of record-breaking performances.<\/p>\n
Lionel Messi heads into the FIFA World Cup 2026 final having once again rewritten the tournament’s record books while leading the Golden Boot standings. With both team success and individual accolades within reach, the final represents another opportunity for the Argentine legend to further cement his place among football’s greatest players.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Lionel Messi has continued to strengthen his legendary status at the FIFA World Cup 2026 after inspiring Argentina to the final, setting new all-time tournament records while reclaiming the lead in the Golden Boot race ahead of the decisive showdown with Spain. Historic Records Continue to Fall Messi produced two assists in Argentina’s semifinal victory […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35540"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35546,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35540\/revisions\/35546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}