¡Absolute madness! Messi dazzled v Cabo Verde, 20 goals, throne intact | OneFootball

The captain of the Argentina National Team, Lionel Messi, continues to defy the laws of time and make his legend even greater. With the goal he scored against Cape Verde in the Round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup, the Rosario-born star reached the astonishing mark of 20 goals in World Cups, firmly establishing himself as the all-time top scorer in the history of the competition.

The historic goal came in the 28th minute of the first half at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami. After a precise long pass from Lisandro Martínez, the “Number 10” controlled the ball in the box with a move of the highest quality and finished clinically over goalkeeper Vozinha to open the scoring. The match, which ended in a dramatic 3-2 Argentine victory in extra time, sealed La Albiceleste’s place in the Round of 16, where they will face Egypt.

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A record-breaking machine

At the start of this edition of the World Cup, Messi shared the top spot in the all-time standings with Germany’s Miroslav Klose, who had 16 goals. However, the “Flea’s” spectacular performance in the current tournament — including a hat-trick against Algeria, a brace against Austria, a free-kick goal against Jordan, and this latest strike against the African side — raised his tally in this competition to 7 goals, leaving him at the top of both the all-time chart and this edition’s scoring table.

With this goal, the Rosario native not only widened the gap over his historical challengers, but also set other unprecedented records in international football: 8 consecutive matches scoring: He became the first footballer to score in eight straight matches in World Cup history.

Greatest variety of opponents:

Cape Verde became the 14th different national team that Messi has scored against in a World Cup.

Elite consistency: He is the first player to record 7 or more goals in two different World Cup editions (he scored 7 in Qatar 2022 and has already reached 7 in the current tournament).

The all-time World Cup scoring table

After this historic day in the United States, the list of the tournament’s top scorers in FIFA history stands as follows, according to data compiled by ESPN:

At 39 years old, Lionel Messi’s legacy seems to know no limits. Every time the captain steps onto the pitch, the stats are rewritten and the distance between him and the rest of the mortals becomes even harder to reach. Argentina remains in the race to defend its world title, and its footballing standard-bearer is as relevant as ever.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.