Yesterday's match of the 2022 World Cup 1/2 finals between the national teams of Argentina and Croatia (3: 0) was the 25th match for the striker of the Argentine national team Lionel Messi at the world championships.
This allowed the 35-year-old football player to repeat the record for this indicator of the legendary German football player Lothar Matthäus, who also played 25 matches in the world championships in his football career, and until yesterday this remained an unsurpassed achievement.
Leaders in the number of matches played at world championships:
Lothar Matthäus (Germany), Lionel Messi (Argentina) - 25 matches
Miroslav Klose (Germany) — 24
Paolo Maldini (Italy) - 23
Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) — 22
Diego Maradona (Argentina), Uwe Seeler (Germany), Vladislav Zhmuda (Poland) — 21
Thus, if Messi takes part in the 2022 World Cup final, he will set a new World Cup record for the number of matches this coming Sunday.