Lionel Messi
Argentina · FW · age 39

The last dance
The champion's farewell
For most of his career the World Cup was the thing held against Lionel Messi — the trophy his country demanded, the comparison forever drawn, the missing line on an otherwise flawless résumé. Then came Qatar in 2022, and the final against France, and a night that finally and completely settled the argument. He had it all.
That is what makes 2026 different from every tournament before it. At 39, with 198 caps and 116 goals for Argentina, he arrives not as a man chasing a ghost but as a champion taking one last lap — defending the title, on the North American soil where he now plays his club football with Inter Miami.
It would be a sixth World Cup, almost certainly his last, and a farewell tour for perhaps the most gifted footballer the game has ever seen. The pressure is gone. What remains is the goodbye.
ملف تشكيلة كأس العالم 2026
- المنتخب
- Argentina
- المركز
- FW
- الدور في التشكيلة
- أساسي متوقع
- ترتيب المركز
- #2
- مباريات دولية
- 198
- أهداف دولية
- 116
- تمريرات حاسمة دولية
- 64
- 0.80(تقييم النموذج، 0–1)
- 46.9%
شاهد Lionel Messi في قائمة هدّافي Argentina الكاملة →
الحالة الأخيرة
2024/25 international form vs the player's multi-season baseline (7.89 vs 7.82).
Major tournament stats
| Tournament | MP | Min | G | A | xG | Sh | KP | PrgP | PrgC | Tkl | Int |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Copa América 2024 | 5 | 475 | 1 | 1 | 2.0 | 13 | 13 | 41 | 47 | 0 | 0 |
| World Cup 2022 | 7 | 739 | 7 | 3 | 6.0 | 32 | 16 | 89 | 109 | 4 | 0 |
| World Cup 2018 | 4 | 378 | 1 | 1 | 1.9 | 18 | 8 | 47 | 74 | 2 | 0 |
| All tournaments | 16 | 1,592 | 9 | 5 | 10.0 | 63 | 37 | 177 | 230 | 6 | 0 |
▸How to read this table— 11 columns explained
- MP
- Matches played in the tournament.
- Min
- Total minutes on the pitch.
- G
- Goals scored (penalties in normal play included; shootouts excluded).
- A
- Assists — passes that directly led to a goal.
- xG
- Expected goals — summed per-shot quality (StatsBomb's model).
- Sh
- Shots taken.
- KP
- Key passes — passes that led to a shot.
- PrgP
- Progressive passes — completed passes moving the ball ≥10m toward goal.
- PrgC
- Progressive carries — carries advancing ≥5m toward goal.
- Tkl
- Tackles won.
- Int
- Interceptions.
رادار الاستكشاف في البطولة
Defending
Passing & progression
Possession
معدلات لكل 90 دقيقة من بيانات أحداث البطولات الكبرى (StatsBomb)، مقارنةً بـ 65 لاعب forward بـ 270 دقيقة أو أكثر في النهائيات ذاتها. أعلى = أفضل.
النسب المئوية للمسيرة
مقابل 355 لاعب MF بـ 3,000 دقيقة أو أكثر في مجموعة البيانات. أعلى = أفضل.
Career — goals & xG by season
موسم بموسم
| الموسم | النادي | الدوري | الأهداف | التمريرات الحاسمة | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-10 | Barcelona | La Liga | 35 | 2,805 | 34 | 9 | — | — |
| 2010-11 | Barcelona | La Liga | 33 | 2,858 | 31 | 19 | — | — |
| 2011-12 | Barcelona | La Liga | 37 | 3,270 | 50 | 16 | — | — |
| 2012-13 | Barcelona | La Liga | 32 | 2,650 | 46 | 11 | — | — |
| 2013-14 | Barcelona | La Liga | 31 | 2,501 | 28 | 11 | — | — |
| 2014-15 | Barcelona | La Liga | 38 | 3,375 | 43 | 18 | — | — |
| 2015-16 | Barcelona | La Liga | 33 | 2,729 | 26 | 14 | — | — |
| 2016-17 | Barcelona | La Liga | 34 | 2,830 | 37 | 9 | — | — |
| 2017-18 | Barcelona | La Liga | 36 | 3,000 | 34 | 12 | 27.1 | 13.9 |
| 2018-19 | Barcelona | La Liga | 34 | 2,713 | 36 | 13 | 23.8 | 14.4 |
| 2019-20 | Barcelona | La Liga | 33 | 2,880 | 25 | 21 | 19.4 | 15.4 |
| 2020-21 | Barcelona | La Liga | 35 | 3,023 | 30 | 9 | 22.1 | 9.5 |
| 2021-22 | Paris S-G | Ligue 1 | 26 | 2,153 | 6 | 14 | 11.3 | 9.2 |
| 2022-23 | Paris S-G | Ligue 1 | 12 | 1,053 | 7 | 10 | 7.2 | 5.3 |
▸How to read this table— 6 columns explained
- MP
- Matches played in that season (start or sub counts as one).
- Mins
- Total minutes on the pitch — better signal for workload than MP alone.
- Goals
- Goals scored (penalties included).
- Assists
- Passes that directly led to a goal (FBref attribution).
- xG
- Expected goals — per-shot quality scored 0–1 by distance / angle / pressure, summed across the season.
- xAG
- Expected assisted goals — the xG of shots created by this player's passes, summed.
Rest of the Argentina squad
- Emiliano Martínez · GK
- Marcos Acuña · DF
- Nicolás Tagliafico · DF
- Germán Pezzella · DF
- Nicolás Otamendi · DF
- Giovani Lo Celso · MF
- Rodrigo De Paul · MF
- Leandro Paredes · MF
- Lautaro Martínez · FW
- Julián Alvarez · FW
- Enzo Fernández · MF
- Nahuel Molina · DF
- Alexis Mac Allister · MF
- Exequiel Palacios · MF
- Gonzalo Montiel · DF
- Nicolás González · FW
- Thiago Almada · MF
- Guido Rodríguez · MF
- Marcos Senesi · DF
- Lucas Martínez Quarta · DF
- Lisandro Martínez · DF
- Walter Benítez · GK
- José Manuel López · FW
- Alejandro Garnacho · FW
- Juan Musso · GK