Lionel Messi is Argentina‘s main man in basically every single statistic possible. Now Messi is the holder of the all-time World Cup top-scorer record, but he has also tied another incredibly difficult tournament record.
Messi scoring against Austria also made him tie French Just Fontaine and Brazilian Jairzinho as the players with most consecutive matches scoring in a World Cup stage with six. For Messi, this spans from Qatar 2022, until now.
Hence, with one goal, Messi now has two new World Cup records. This might be one of the most important goals in Messi’s career. Even better, the goal came after Messi missed a penalty, so it was also a moment of redemption for Argentina’s captain.
Messi’s six-game scoring streak by the numbers
Messi’s streak to tie Just Fontaine and Jarzinho’s record started in Qatar 2022’s Round of 16 matchup against Australia, where he scored the opening goal of a 2-1 victory. In the quarterfinals, Messi scored a penalty, and then assisted vs. Netherlands. In the semifinals, Messi opened the scoring vs. Croatia and then assisted as Argentina won 3-0. It all culminated with a World Cup win as Messi scored twice vs. France.
Now, with 38 years on his back, Messi scored a hat-trick in Argentina‘s 2026 World Cup debut vs. Algeria, and then scored against Austria in the second matchday. Should Messi score against Jordan, he would become the sole record-holder for scoring in the most consecutive World Cup games.
Did Fontaine and Jairzinho did it in the same World Cup?
Just Fontaine not only scored in six consecutive World Cup games, but scored 13 all while playing the 1958 edition. As for Jairzinho, he scored seven goals in six-straight games, all in Mexico 1970.
Depending on how you see it, one could be more impressive than the other. Doing it all in one tournament speaks to an absolute dominance during the span of the tournament. In Messi’s case, it’s more of an indictment on his durability and the fact that he’s aged like fine wine.
