Argentina faces England tonight in the second World Cup semi-final (20:00 BST, 21:00 CEST) for a place in the final on Sunday against Spain, and most eyes will be set on Leo Messi, joint-top goalscorer in the World Cup alongside Kylian Mbappé (8 goals). Messi, aged 39, aims to win a second title in what most likely will be his final World Cup, and has impressed with his performance: 33 shots, 21 chances created, and eleven goal contributions (eight goals and three assists).
In fact, Messi has been involved, with goals and assists, in 15 World Cup matches in a row, counting World Cups 2026 and 2022: 16 goals and seven assists in the last 15 games; the last time he was not involved in a goal was at a group stage match against Poland, ending 2-0, as BBC contributor Guillem Balagué reported.
Messi's goal contributions, shots and chances created, a combined 54, is also the highest for any player at a World Cup in decades, since Diego Maradona in 1986.
Yet, at the same time, Messi has been running much fewer than the rest of players: Balagué found in the data that Messi was walking during the 47% of distance he has covered in the World Cup matches so far, averaging just 2.7 sprints per matches (compared to 5.3 sprints four years ago). He has also covered the shortest distance of all Argentina outfield players that have played for more than 20 minutes, only 8.2 km per 90 minutes.
Maybe it's age, maybe it's tactics, but even running much less, Messi has been contributing with more goals and chances than anyone this World Cup for his team's success. Of course, only scoring goals doesn't win World Cups, and now Argentina need to stop Kane, Bellingham, Gordon, and others at the same time as finding Messi if they want to be in the final.