Comparing Lionel Messi’s stats at the 2026 World Cup to the 2022 World Cup: Is he somehow better? | OneFootball

Lionel Messi might just be doing the unthinkable – bettering his performances from Argentina’s triumphant 2022 World Cup campaign. And he’s doing it at the age of 39.

At least, that’s what the underlying stats suggest, with Messi’s output somehow better in almost every aspect of the game than he managed in Qatar.

“I didn’t make my decision [about playing in the World Cup] until the last year, and I was constantly talking with Scaloni,” Messi told reporters following Argentina’s semi-final victory over England.

“I did everything I could to arrive in the best possible condition. I started preparing a full year in advance, and I was training constantly.

“I even spent December in Argentina, training in the morning and evening. I knew I would give everything I had to arrive in the best possible readiness, and to be able to enjoy the World Cup.”

We’re seeing the fruits of that labour now.

Messi clearly isn’t as mobile and as lithe as he was in his prime, and has notably slowed down even compared to four years ago. He famously spends a huge proportion of the game conserving his energy and walking.

But in distilling his game down to the core elements, he’s arguably more devastatingly effective than ever before. At least in World Cup terms, where he’s producing his best-ever numbers in his sixth tournament.

He’s now played as many games as he did in Qatar, with marginally fewer minutes. But he’s scored more goals and notched more assists. In fact, he’s scored five more non-penalty goals than he did out in Qatar, with over half his tally in the last tournament from the penalty spot.

Argentina’s legendary captain hasn’t scored a single penalty this time around, although he has missed two.

The impressive thing is that not only is Messi’s output improved when it comes to end product, but somehow in almost all aspects of the game – dribbling, passing, creating chances, even tackling.

One particularly satisfying quirk of this comparison is that he’s notched almost exactly as many touches of the ball (just one fewer) – and yet with that he’s doing more in terms of serving his team. It’s absolutely remarkable.

“As you get older, you get slower. But here we are talking about a genius,” Zlatan Ibrahimovic said on Fox Sports.

“If you score 18 goals in 20 years of World Cups, it means you are superior to others, because you span generations without losing competitiveness. It means you are the best ever.”

Here’s how Messi’s stats at the 2026 World Cup (so far) compare to his stats at Argentina’s victorious 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Lionel Messi – 2022 World Cup