Lionel Messi Shatters Yet Another World Cup Record in Argentina Quarterfinal Win

The Argentina captain set up the opening goal in a 3–1 win.

Lionel Messi has lit up this World Cup. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

Lionel Messi may not have got on the scoresheet in Argentina’s World Cup quarterfinal victory over Switzerland on Saturday, but he still managed to set a record—becoming the competition’s all-time leading assist provider.

The 39-year-old set up Alexis Mac Allister’s opener in the 3–1 win with an in-swinging corner to mark his 10th assist in World Cup matches.

That tally moves the Argentina captain ahead West Germany star Fritz Walter, who has nine. Brazilian great Pelé is also credited as having nine assists by some sources, but his total is widely disputed.

Interestingly, each of Messi’s assists have been provided to a different goalscorer.

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Messi Milestones

Lionel Messi now has 10 goal contributions to his name at the 2026 World Cup. | Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

The match in Kansas City was another frantic knockout affair for Argentina, with Lionel Scaloni’s side previously surviving scares against Cabo Verde and Egypt to reach the last eight.

Messi’s assist for Mac Allister opened the scoring after just 10 minutes, but Switzerland fought back to level through Dan Ndoye in the second half. A controversial second yellow card for Breel Embolo, as a result of FIFA’s new “mistaken identity” rule, left the European side a man short for the rest of the contest. Argentina still required extra time to come out on top, eventually taking the lead through Julían Alvarez’s stunner before Lautaro Martínez completed the scoring late on.

Argentina’s win sets up a date with England in the semifinal on Wednesday, July 15.

The win marked the first time in this World Cup that Messi has not scored in an Argentina match, with the captain unable to add to his eight goals in the Golden Boot race. However, it was not an off-night for Messi by any means, with the Inter Miami star still creating the most chances in the game (six), taking the most shots (four) and completing the most dribbles (five)—as well as getting a crucial assist.

“He's like a machine,” Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said of Messi after the match. “Those that are not so much acquainted with him might be surprised, and at 39 years of age some people might think he will not rise to the challenge. But I’ve said this before, as long as he wants to be the best—and I’m not saying this because I’m coaching him—but because if he wants to continue, he will continue to be the best.”

As well as becoming the World Cup’s outright all-time assist leader, Messi also reached another milestone on Saturday by taking his goal involvement total to 10 this tournament (eight goals, two assists).

Having also reached double digits for goal contributions in 2022, he becomes only the second player—after France’s Kylian Mbappé—to hit 10 or more goals and assists combined in consecutive World Cup tournaments.

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World Cup All-Time Assist Providers

Diego Maradona is second on the assist charts since 1966. | Photo Agency/Getty Images

With 10 assists in World Cup history, Messi becomes the first player to reach double digits for setting up goals.

Assessing assist numbers from tournaments past is not as easy as you might think. A complete list of assist providers from all World Cup since the inaugural competition in 1930 is not available, with statistics from the first tournaments up to the 1970s suffering from a lack of clear archive footage. There is also the issue what actually constitutes an assist, with historic standards quite different to modern ones. As a result, some sources give Pelé 10 assists, while others have his total as low as six.

That said, West Germany captain and 1954 World Cup winner Walter’s tally of nine is largely undisputed and credited as such by FIFA.

Opta, has tracked back as far as 1966 to provide an assist-leaders chart for the modern age. In those parameters, Messi was already the top assister prior to the Switzerland match—ahead of countryman Diego Maradona on eight.

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Top Assists Providers at the FIFA World Cup Since 1966

Player	Nation	Number of Assists
Lionel Messi	Argentina	10
Diego Maradona	Argentina	8
Pierre Littbarski	West Germany	7
Grzegorz Lato	Poland	7
Ivan Perisic	Croatia	6
David Beckham	England	6
Pelé	Brazil	6
Thomas Häßler	Germany	6
Bastian Schweinsteiger	Germany	6
Thomas Müller	Germany	6
Uwe Seeler	West Germany	6
Francesco Totti	Italy	6

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