Lionel Messi has played his 22nd match in the final tournaments of the world championships. Thus, he became the new record holder of the Argentine national team, breaking the record of 28 years ago Diego Maradona. Messi played 7 meetings at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, 5 in 2010 in South Africa, 4 in 2018 in Russia, 3 each at the 2006 World Cup in Germany and at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
By the way, the 35-year-old captain of the blue-and-whites now occupies the fourth position in the list of top guardsmen of the world championships. If the Argentina national team reaches the semi-finals and then plays either in the final or in the bronze medal match, Lionel can reach the first line of this list, beating the world championship record holder German Lothar Matthäus.
Yuri LYAHOVETSKY
Top 12 World Championship Finals Guardsmen
Matches
Player
national team
World Cup
25
Lothar MATTHEUS
Germany/Germany
1982-1998
24
Miroslav KLOZE
Germany
2002-2014
23
Paolo MALDINI
Italy
1990-2002
22
Lionel Messi
Argentina
2006-2022
21
Uve ZEELER
Germany
1958-1970
Vladislav Zhmuda
Poland
1974-1986
Diego MARADONA
Argentina
1982-1994
20
Grzegorz SUMMER
Poland
1974-1982
COFFEE
Brazil
1994-2006
Philip LAM
Germany
2006-2014
Bastian SCHWEINSTEIGER
Germany
2006-2014
Javier MASCHERANO
Argentina
2006-2018
