Lionel Messi breaks fresh World Cup records, equals Diego Maradona mark in semi-final

Lionel Messi has become the first player in history to both score and assist in four separate World Cup matches during their semi-final victory against Croatia in Qatar.

The 35-year-old had equalled a long-standing World Cup record even before his first touch as he joined Lothar Matthaus on 25 appearances at the tournament - a mark he is now certain to beat in the final on Sunday barring injury.

Messi then opened the scoring for La Albiceleste with an unstoppable penalty into the top corner, a goal which saw him become Argentina's outright leading goalscorer at World Cups, moving clear of Gabriel Batistuta on 11 goals overall.

More records were to come for the Paris Saint-Germain man, though, as he produced a moment of magic to assist Argentina's third of the night, turning Josko Gvardiol inside out before laying the ball off for Julian Alvarez to net his second of the night.

4 – Lionel Messi has become the first player to both score and assist in four separate World Cup matches (since the 1966 edition). Magical.

2006 vs Serbia
2022 vs Mexico
2022 vs Netherlands
2022 vs Croatia pic.twitter.com/Qsh36wCuCj

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) December 13, 2022

In doing so, Messi became the first player since records began in 1966 to register both a goal and an assist in four separate World Cup games, three of which have now come at this winter's tournament in Qatar.

The assist also saw the seven-time Ballon d'Or winner equal his compatriot Diego Maradona's all-time World Cup record of eight assists in the competition.

On top of that Messi has now been involved in 19 World Cup goals, scoring 11 and creating eight more, equalling the record jointly held by Miroslav Klose, Ronaldo and Gerd Muller since records began in 1966.

Messi's man-of-the-match display saw him inspire Argentina into a second World Cup final of his career, where they will face either France or Morocco on Sunday.