Messi goes home with more than just a grand trophy, but five record-breaking titles.
World superstar Lionel Messi has claimed more titles than just captaining the now-best team in the world and winners of the FIFA 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The 35-year-old Argentinian player has won back-to-back championships and broken numerous records during the tournament, starting with his most-liked Instagram picture of all time of him holding the trophy. The image has broken the record with 68 million likes and still counting.
In addition to beating France in the final and being a world champion, the star has also surpassed Lothar Matthäus (Germany) for the record of most FIFA World Cup matches played in by a player, amounting to a total of 26.
To top that, that record was Messi’s fifth Guinness World Record in the tournament alone.
Throughout the competition, Messi played brilliantly, bagging increasingly more titles to add to his glamorous collection.
The Argentinian forward became the first player to provide an assist at five different World Cups, the most Man of the Match awards won at the World Cup, the most World Cup appearances as captain, and the most World Cup appearances by a male player.
Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Arjen Robben had all received six Man of the Match honors prior to the start of the 2022 World Cup.
Following a string of spectacular performances, Messi surged ahead of the field, winning four straight Man of the Match awards.
In their match on Sunday against France, Argentina got off to a fast start thanks to penalties from Messi in the 23rd minute and Angel Di Mara around 13 minutes later.
Disaster, however, struck late in the second half when Mbappé scored twice back-to-back to force overtime.
Fans roared yet again as Messi placed Argentina in the lead once more, but Mbappé quickly negated this success with a penalty goal in the 118th minute to tie Geoff Hurst’s (UK) record for the most goals by a player in a FIFA World Cup final (3).
After 36 years, Argentina won their second World Cup, which was followed by a 4-2 victory on penalties that gave them their third World Cup title.
Argentina continues to hold the record for the most teams to win on penalties in FIFA World Cup competitions (6).
