Since the final evening of the soccer World Cup in Qatar, Lionel Messi has not only been world champion, but also a record player: the Argentine superstar has played more often in a World Cup than any other professional. Lothar Matthäus held the record for 24 years. However, he is not angry with the new record holder.
Lothar Matthäus has no problem with the fact that he is no longer the footballer with the most World Cup appearances. He treats his successor Lionel Messi “like everything else,” wrote the 61-year-old in a column for the Sky TV channel. The Argentinian world champion captain had surpassed Matthäus, who took part in 25 games at world championships for the German national team, on Sunday with his 26th World Cup appearance in the final against France (7:5 on penalties). “Messi is definitely the best of this millennium and one of the greatest athletes we’ve seen,” said Matthäus. Matthäus, who collected his World Cup appearances between 1982 and 1998, held the record for 24 years.
Messi also proved in the final against France “why he is the greatest player of all time for many,” praised Matthäus, who trusts the 35-year-old Paris Saint-Germain professional at the next World Cup in 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico to participate again as a player. “We can be happy and grateful to have experienced him and to be able to continue to admire him. I’m not so sure that this was his last world championship,” wrote the German world champion captain from 1990.
In his 26th World Cup game, Messi produced numerous exciting statistics and records: his two goals in the grand final of this controversial tournament made the tournament’s best player also the first player in the 92-year history of the World Cup to score in every round scored two goals in the preliminary round, followed by more in the round of 16, quarters and semi-finals and crowned his unbelievable run to the longed-for title with a brace in the final.
With a total of 12 goals and eight assists, Messi is also now the player with the most goals involved in a World Cup (20) since the data was first recorded in 1966. With 12 goals of his own, Messi drew level with Brazil’s football icon Pelé, who also scored a dozen goals in finals.
After all – from a German point of view – Messi, who does not want to end his career in the national team immediately, but will not play a World Cup anymore, will not break Miroslav Klose’s goal record. The German striker scored 16 goals in four World Cup appearances. With his 23rd-minute penalty, Messi also became the first player to concede four penalties at a World Cup.