Lionel Messi makes 1000th professional game – all-time World Cup record beckons

Numbers of a great career

The next milestone for Lionel Messi: The Argentine climbs into the 1000 club with his appearance in Saturday’s World Cup match against Australia. At the age of 35 he completed his 1000th competitive game as a professional in the round of 16 in Qatar. If he were to score against the “Socceroos”, it would be a first, because the PSG attacker has not yet scored a goal in a knockout round at a World Cup. With this performance data and a total of eight World Cup goals since 2006, it’s actually unbelievable. An impressive career in numbers.

Messi’s career: the beginning and the Barça era

On October 16, 2004, Messi will make his competitive debut. When he came on as a substitute a few minutes before the end of the city duel at Espanyol Barcelona (1-0), Messi was 17 years old. He plays about eight minutes. Messi has played a total of 778 games for FC Barcelona. As a 13-year-old, 22 years ago, he moved to Catalonia from Rosario. He scored 672 goals for Barça from his professional debut until his departure. Messi prepares 303 goals. He won 35 titles with the Blaugrana. When he played 1-2 against Celta Vigo on May 16, 2021, it was the last time (for the time being) for FC Barcelona.

Notable side notes: His five-goal in the 2011/12 Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen and his streak of 19 consecutive La Liga games with at least one goal between November 2012 and March 2013, including six straight braces (all Lionel Messi goals in one list ).

National team, PSG and 10 remarkable facts about Messi’s career

Messi’s international career begins on August 17, 2005. And the debut is about to be memorable. Messi comes on as a substitute in the 64th minute, in the 65th minute he sees the red card after an assault, the referee at the time was Markus Merk. This is followed by 167 international matches and 93 goals. With the final game of the group stage against Poland (2-0), Messi takes his tally to 22 World Cup appearances, the most for an Argentine – one more than Maradona. Messi scored eight World Cup goals, as many as Maradona. Only Gabriel Batistuta is ahead of Messi in the ranking of Argentina’s top scorers at the World Cup.

At PSG, Messi’s new chapter begins after the painful farewell from Barcelona with minor injury breaks and assists for the colleagues. Messi now counts 53 games in the Paris jersey with 23 goals, 27 assists and two titles so far.

And another 10 notable facts about the Argentinian number 10:

– In 2012, Messi scored 91 goals in one year. He broke the record for most goals by a player in a calendar year in professional football. Until then, this had been held by Gerd Müller, set up in 1972 with 85 goals.

– Messi has created 63 chances since his first World Cup appearance in 2006 – more than anyone else, according to data provider Opta.

– Messi scored all eight World Cup goals in the group stage. He has never scored in a knockout game.

– Messi has been in top form this season from the numbers alone. According to Opta, his statistic for goal contributions (goal/assist) is 1.4. Club and selection games are included. He only achieved an even higher value in the 2011/12 season with 1.64.

– Messi scored his 400th professional goal in an international match against Germany on 15 August 2012. He missed a penalty in Argentina’s 3-1 lead.

– Messi failed to score at the 2010 World Cup, when Argentina were coached by Diego Maradona and lost to Germany in the quarter-finals.

– Only against Germany has Messi lost several times at a World Cup: 2010 in the quarterfinals with 0:4, at the 2014 World Cup final with 0:1 and in 2006 in the quarterfinals on penalties. Otherwise, he only suffered three defeats in all his other World Cup games.

– Among players with at least ten World Cup games, Messi is the one with the most dribbles per game since Opta recorded the data in 1966. He has a total of 118 successful dribbles. 5.4 per game.

– Messi was directly involved in 14 World Cup goals. Since his first World Cup (2006) only Thomas Müller is ahead of him with 16 goals (10/6) in this period.

– Should Messi reach the final with Argentina this year, he would become the most-capped player in World Cup history.

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