Lionel Messi’s 18 World Cup goals map the evolution of his game | OneFootball

At 39, Lionel Messi keeps bending time, now the World Cup’s outright record scorer with 18 after Algeria’s 3-0 and Austria’s 2-0. According to L'Équipe, those goals chart a game that has shifted while core traits endure.

Before Qatar 2022 he had only six World Cup goals from 73 attempts, including a blank in 2010 from 30 shots, a rate of one every 12 efforts. Since then he has struck 12 in 45, needing fewer than four shots per goal.

In 2006 he was a sparingly used, whirring winger, left on the bench for the quarter-final lost to Germany on penalties after a 1-1 draw. His first World Cup goal came against Serbia-Montenegro, sprinting onto Carlos Tevez’s pass and finishing with his right.

By 2014 he was initiating and finishing. Against Bosnia he burst from near halfway, exchanged with Gonzalo Higuaín, weaved past challenges and curled in left-footed from the edge. He also poached against Nigeria after an Ángel Di María strike hit the post, and settled Iran 1-0 with a fierce late drive.

Russia 2018 brought another trademark run in behind, Ever Banega launching him from halfway, a velvet thigh control and a right-foot finish versus Nigeria. His World Cup numbers even show four right-foot goals from 11 shots, compared with 14 from 105 with his left.

In 2022 he opened the scoring against Australia from the second phase of his own corner, then blasted from range to break Mexico. In the final, Hugo Lloris parried and Messi followed in.

This year Algeria’s goalkeeper, the Algerian Luca Zidane, pushed out a team-mate’s effort and Messi reacted first. On Tuesday against Austria he began the move by releasing Thiago Almada and struck from the edge for his 17th, then later controlled a Leandro Paredes pass acrobatically and, at the second attempt, beat the keeper despite four defenders in the six-yard box.

Source: L'Équipe