Lionel Messi at World Cup 2026: What records could the Argentina captain break in Sunday's final?

After months of uncertainty, Lionel Messi’s involvement in Argentina’s World Cup defence was confirmed with Lionel Scaloni’s squad announcement for the 2026 tournament, and the Argentina captain has since gone about rewriting the record books in his sixth and final World Cup.

Messi scored a hat-trick on his tournament opener against Algeria before adding a brace against Austria and a late free kick against Jordan, firing Argentina to a perfect record in Group J as they booked a round of 32 meeting with Cape Verde.

The forward scored twice more against Cape Verde and Egypt to help his country reach the quarter-finals of the tournament.

Messi has since provided three assists in two games against Switzerland and England to help Argentina reach the final, with the attacker now on eight goals and four assists at the 2026 tournament.

Here, Sports Mole looks at the records Messi has already broken and the one he could still break during Argentina’s bid to win back-to-back World Cups, with the South Americans facing Spain in Saturday's final.

Messi joins exclusive club with Ronaldo

Messi has joined his old foe, Cristiano Ronaldo, in becoming one of two players to play in six different men’s World Cups.

The Argentine set that record in the opening game against Algeria on June 17, with Ronaldo matching the feat in Portugal’s tournament opener against DR Congo the following day.

Messi made his World Cup debut in the second game of the 2006 group stage, coming off the bench to register a goal and an assist in a 6-0 thrashing of Serbia and Montenegro.

Messi turned 39 shortly after Argentina’s win over Austria, becoming the oldest man to score a brace in that fixture in the process.

Messi breaks Klose’s goalscoring record

The Inter Miami captain scored seven goals in Argentina’s triumphant World Cup campaign in 2022, ending his country’s 36-year wait for football’s biggest prize.

Those efforts had taken Messi onto 13 goals in 26 finals appearances, leaving him in joint fourth place in the all-time World Cup top scorers list heading into this tournament.

A hat-trick against Algeria took him level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose on 16 goals, and two further strikes against Austria saw him move clear as the outright leading goalscorer in men’s World Cup history.

A late free kick off the bench against Jordan then extended his tally to 19 goals from six tournaments, before scoring against Cape Verde and Egypt to move onto 21 goals from 31 matches in World Cup finals.

Messi's record currently stands at 21 goals in 33 World Cup fixtures.

Messi surpasses Pele

According to FIFA, Messi entered the tournament sharing the World Cup goal-contribution record with Brazilian icon Pele, which stood at 21 apiece.

Messi’s exploits against Algeria, Austria and Jordan pushed his combined goals and assists total well clear of Pele’s mark, cementing his position as the outright holder of the goal-contribution record at football’s biggest tournament. His record stands at 33 goal contributions (21 goals and 12 assists)

Lionel Messi: Oldest World Cup final goalscorer?

While the goal-contribution record has now been claimed, the challenge for Messi is to become the oldest goalscorer in a World Cup final.

Messi currently holds the record for the oldest goalscorer for the winning team in the final, but the overall record belongs to Nils Liedholm, who scored in Sweden’s 5-2 defeat to Brazil in 1958 at the age of 35 and 264 days.

Messi reaches appearance milestone

This one is not a record, but it is an impressive achievement nonetheless, with Messi’s appearance against Algeria taking him to 200 caps and making him just the third footballer to reach that mark in men’s international football.

Messi is now on 206 appearances for his national side.

Ronaldo has the outright record with 233 appearances in a Portugal shirt, while Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa and Luka Modric sit joint-third on 202 matches.

Messi also now has the all-time record for most appearances at World Cup finals with 33.

Messi secures assist record at World Cup

Another record Messi has claimed this summer is the assist record, with the legendary forward now on 12 assists at the competition, including four this summer.

Oldest outfield player in World Cup final

Should Messi start against Spain, he would become the oldest outfield player ever to appear in a World Cup final at the age of 39 years and 25 days old.