Lionel Messi scored this Friday against the Netherlands in the quarterfinals of Qatar-2022 and reached a total of 10 goals in World Cups, reaching the mark of the Argentine player who scored the most goals in the World Cups, Gabriel Batistuta.
Source: AFP
Messi He came to this edition with six goals in his personal account, spread over three World Cups (2006, 2014 and 2018). To this is added the penalty that he converted in the 2-1 defeat against Saudi Arabia in the debut, the goal that opened the way to the 2-0 victory over Mexico on the second day, the first against Australia in the 2-1 of the eighth and now the 2-0 penalty in the quarterfinals against the Dutch.
He was left without scoring in the other match played by Argentina so far in the competition, the 2-0 victory over Poland, where the Paris Saint-Germain player even missed a penalty.
The goal against the Mexicans had allowed Messi to reach a total of eight and thus equal Diego Maradona, who achieved that figure in the four editions he played (1982, 1986, 1990, 1994). He already surpassed him, with nine, with the target against the Australians.
batistuta played three World Cups. Four of his celebrations were in his debut edition, in the United States-1994, where in the first game he signed a hat-trick against Greece (4-0).
In France-1998, ‘Batigol’ scored five goals, including a hat-trick in the 5-0 win over Jamaica, and in South Korea/Japan-2002 he signed his tenth and last goal for the Albiceleste in a World Cup, in victory 1 -0 over Nigeria on debut.
In the case of Messi, the first World Cup goal was in his first match in the tournament, when in 2006 he came on as a substitute in place of Maxi Rodríguez in the 6-0 victory over Serbia and Montenegro, on the second day of their group. The then Barcelona player put the sixth on the scoreboard that afternoon.
It is more difficult for Messi to reach the top scorer in history in a World Cup, since the record is held by the German Miroslav Klosewith 16.
The record number of goals in the same World Cup It has been held since Sweden-1958 by the French Just Fontainewith 13, an amount that for the moment seems very far from the reach of the albiceleste star, who in Qatar-2022 he accumulates 4 goals.
