The World Cup semifinal brought more history for Argentina as Lionel Messi recorded two assists in the 2-1 victory over England, taking his total to 12 goal contributions in the tournament. He surpassed Kylian Mbappé and now trails only Just Fontaine’s legendary record.
With England leading 1-0 late in the match, Argentina played a short corner that found Messi. The forward laid the ball back to Enzo Fernández, who scored with a long-range strike to level the game.
That was not Messi’s final contribution. In the 92nd minute, he reached the byline on the right before delivering a perfect cross with his right foot for Lautaro Martínez, who headed home the winning goal.
Messi moves ahead of Mbappé
Before the semifinal, Mbappé led the tournament in goal contributions after an outstanding campaign. Albeit France were eliminated by Spain, the forward finished with eight goals and three assists.
Argentina came back from behind (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)
Messi is now level with Mbappé on goals. He scored three against Algeria, twice against Austria, once against Jordan in the group stage, once against Cape Verde in the Round of 32, and once against Egypt in the Round of 16.
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His two assists against England increased his total to four. Earlier in the tournament, Messi assisted Cristian Romero from a corner against Cape Verde before setting him up again against Egypt.
Fontaine’s record
Some records are there to be broken, while others seem almost untouchable. Fontaine’s record of 13 goals in a single World Cup, set with France in 1958, is one of them and will not be matched. The total number of goal contributions is a different story because Fontaine finished without recording a single assist.
