Lionel Messi, 76 free-kicks and a record that remains elusive

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·5 October 2026

Lionel Messi, 76 free-kicks and a record that remains elusive

Before Argentina face Benin for a one am kick-off on Wednesday, the status of Lionel Messi’s free-kick record chase remains unclear.

According to L'Équipe, he struck his first free-kick eighteen years and one day ago and now stands on 76, said to be one shy of Juninho’s career mark.

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A word of warning. Readers seeking clean, verified totals may leave frustrated, the writers themselves encountered the same stumbling blocks.

After his 76th, scored on 28 September with Miami, it was widely stated that Messi needed only one more to catch Juninho, which prompted this examination.

Initial research yielded little besides perplexity.

Source: L'Équipe

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”