Messi is the top scorer of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup
Argentina forward Lionel Messi finished the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the leader of the scoring charts.
In three matches, Messi scored six goals and broke the tournament's scoring record. In the opening match against Algeria (3:0), he scored a hat trick. The forward then scored twice against Austria (2:0) and found the net in the game against Jordan (3:1).
Messi became the fifth player to finish the group stage with six goals. Previously, this had been achieved by Hungarian Sandor Kocsis (seven goals, 1954), German Gerd Muller (seven, 1970), Frenchman Just Fontaine (six, 1958) and Russian Oleg Salenko (six, 1994).
Messi's closest pursuers are French forwards Kylian Mbappe and Ousmane Dembele, Brazilian forward Vinicius and Norwegian attacker Erling Haaland. All listed players have four goals each. However, each of them played three games, except for Haaland, who remained on the bench in the final group stage match against France (1:4).
The top assistants were Swedish forward Alexander Isak, French forward Michael Olise and Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes. They each provided three assists.
Source: TASS
