21 years after his debut, Lionel Messi brought an end to his legendary career as Argentina played in the 2026 FIFA World Cup defeat to Spain set to be the final match of his career. While denied the fairytale ending, the 39-year-old leaves the big stage on a high after a tournament in which he produced the second-most goals (9) as well as the joint-second-most assists in his career. Since his debut against Hungary in 2005, when he was red-carded less than a minute after coming on, Messi has played 207 matches for Argentina, scoring 125 goals and providing 65 assists. He also won two Copa América trophies (2021 and 2024) as well as the World Cup in 2022, along with the Finalissima that year. Messi's 125 goals for Argentina came in all types and ways, but his left foot was the one that dominated proceedings. Of all the goals he scored for the La Albiceleste in his career, 88.8 (90.2% of those were scored with his dominant foot. Only two goals he scored came from his feet. H There are 10 teams against whom Messi has scored five or more goals in his career. Bolivia has been the most productive opponent of his career and the only one against whom he has found the back of the net in double-digit numbers. Meanwhile, Messi has scored at least one international goal for 20 years in a row, since his first goal for the national team in 2006. 2005 is the only year in which the Argentine has not played. There were only three years in which Messi scored 10 or more goals, one of which was the last in 2026. Messi's tally of goals is the second-most in international football and World Cups behind Cristiano Ronaldo (146) and Kylian Mbappe (22). Meanwhile, the 39-year-old also leads the list of assists in both international football overall as well as the history of the FIFA WC (where data is available). Messi has also scored the most hat-tricks in international football history; no player has found the back of the net for their country from free kicks as many as him either The former Argentinian captain is only one of four players to play more than 200 games for their country, and only Ronaldo (233) has played more games in international football than him. Meanwhile, no player has either played (39) or won (23) more World Cup matches than him. Aayush Kataria is a Senior Copy Editor at Times Network with four years of experience, having started his career in the organisation. He is a key memb... View More