Lionel Messi’s complete World Cup record against European nations ahead of huge England clash | OneFootball

If Lionel Messi is to lift the World Cup this year, he will have to do so by defeating two European nations, but what does his record against the continent look like?

Argentina are the final non-European team left standing as UEFA exerts its dominance over world football, but can Messi stop the World Cup trophy from returning to the continent?

In Messi’s career so far, he has faced a European nation 19 times at the World Cup with his first coming against Germany in the 2006 quarterfinals.

Of those 19 games, Messi has won nine of them with a further three wins coming via a penalty shootout. In total, Messi has a 63% win record against European nations, including penalty shootouts.

Interestingly, Messi only has a winning record against one of the teams he has faced more than once and that is Switzerland. Argentina’s most recent win over the Swiss in the quarter-final was the second time of two attempts that Messi has beaten them.

His bogey team is Germany, having played them three times and failed to win. The Germans won at the quarter-final stage in 2006 and via penalties in 2010. They then famously beat Messi’s Argentina in the World Cup final thanks to an extra-time goal from Mario Gotze.

Alongside Germany, Messi has played the Netherlands the most and all three encounters have ended in a draw. Two of them went to penalties with Argentina winning in the quarter-final of 2022 and the semi-final of 2014. The group game in 2006 ended goalless.

Messi has played France on two occasions, but has not beaten them in normal time. Argentina defeated France in the 2022 final via penalties while France beat Argentina 4-3 in the 2018 round of 16.

The final team Messi has faced more than once is Croatia with the teams split on a win apiece. Messi’s victory came in the 2022 semi-final, while Croatia were victorious in the 2018 group stage match.

Messi has played Poland, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium and Austria once and beat them in those encounters. He has also played Iceland once, which ended in a draw.

As for his goal contributions, Messi has a total of eight goals and seven assists against European teams.

The most he has scored in one game is two against France in the 2022 final while he has scored and assisted in the same game against the Netherlands, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro.