Lionel Messi continued his remarkable 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign by breaking another long-standing record during Argentina’s dramatic 3-2 comeback victory over Egypt in the Round of 16.
The Argentina captain found the net against the Pharaohs to extend his extraordinary scoring streak, making it five consecutive matches with a goal at the 2026 tournament.
Combined with his final four matches at the 2022 World Cup, Messi has now scored in nine straight World Cup appearances, setting a new FIFA World Cup record after previously equalling the mark against Austria.
The goal also saw the 39-year-old match a record that had stood since the inaugural World Cup in 1930. Messi’s eighth goal of the 2026 tournament drew him level with Argentine great Guillermo Stábile for the most goals scored by an Argentina player at a single FIFA World Cup.
Stábile established the record at the 1930 World Cup, and despite the tournament featuring fewer matches than the modern competition, both players reached the eight-goal mark in just five games.
Messi opened his scoring account at the tournament with a hat-trick against Algeria before adding another hat-trick against Austria. He then scored against Jordan, Cape Verde and Egypt to take his tally to eight goals.
By comparison, Stábile scored three times against Mexico, twice against Chile, another two goals in the semi-final against the United States and one in the final against Uruguay.
The strike against Egypt also added another nation to Messi’s growing list of World Cup victims. No player has scored against more different national teams in FIFA World Cup history than the Argentine captain, with Egypt becoming the latest country to concede to him on football’s biggest stage.
Messi also strengthened his position as the competition’s all-time leading scorer. His goal against Egypt took his World Cup tally to 21, extending the record further as Argentina progressed to the quarter-finals.
The veteran forward’s most prolific World Cup performances have come in the latter stages of his career. After scoring seven goals during Argentina’s triumphant 2022 campaign, he has already surpassed that figure with eight goals at the 2026 tournament.
Remarkably, Messi managed only six World Cup goals across his first four appearances at the competition between 2006 and 2018. His recent exploits underline a dramatic transformation in his scoring output, with the Argentine icon continuing to rewrite the history books deep into his international career.
