Messi surpassed Ronaldo in the number of productive actions in matches for the national team

Lionel Messi continues to break football records. In the match of the first round of the 2026 World Cup, the 38-year-old Argentine scored a hat-trick and became the most productive player in the history of the national teams according to the goal+pass system. The match was Messi's 200th as part of the Argentina national team. Thanks to the three goals, his statistics for the national team now stand at 120 goals and 61 assists. In total, the Argentine has 181 successful actions in the national team shirt, which allowed him to overtake Cristiano Ronaldo. The captain of the Portuguese national team has 180 points according to the goal+pass system — 143 goals scored and 37 assists in 228 matches. In addition, Messi continued to rise in the historical ranking of scorers of World Cups. The three goals against Algeria were his 14th, 15th and 16th at the World Cup, which put him at the top of the list of the best snipers of the tournament.