Football legend Lionel Messi has set a personal record for the number of goals scored at a World Cup. He has netted eight times in the current 2026 tournament. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The player's previous record at a World Cup was seven goals at the 2022 tournament in Qatar, as reported by Chempionat.
Messi increased his overall World Cup tally to 21 goals, cementing his status as the tournament's all-time top scorer (he surpassed Miroslav Klose's 16 goals during the group stage).
Unlike the 2022 World Cup, where 3 of his 7 goals were penalties, at the 2026 World Cup all 8 of Leo's goals have come from open play. He has scored in every match of this tournament.
An assist in the match against Egypt was Messi's 9th at World Cups, making him the absolute leader in assists among Argentines.
By scoring 8 goals in a single World Cup, Messi matched the achievement of legendary Guillermo Stábile for the most goals by an Argentina player in a single World Cup.
Messi currently leads the 2026 World Cup scoring charts, ahead of Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland (both have 7 goals).
Earlier, Kursiv reported that Argentina came back from 0-2 down against Egypt to reach the World Cup quarter-finals.