IFFHS STATISTICS - WORLD CUP 2022 DAY 20
Picture : Luka Modric is the 4th player to start 6 matches at a single World Cup edition at the age of 37+, after Nilton Santos (Brazil) in 1962, Dino Zoff (Italy) in 1982 and Peter Shilton (England) in 1990.
The statistics on 2022 World Cup day 20 (13 December)
*Argentina (3-0 vs Croatia) have won their 5th World Cup semifinal out of 5 (1930-1986-1990-2014-2022). They were never defeated at this stage!
*Argentina have reached the World Cup final for the 6th time, equaling Italy, with only Germany (8) and Brazil (7) ahead.
*Lionel Messi made his 25th appearance at the World Cup, tying the historical record holder Lothar Matthäus.
*Lionel Messi has scored his 11th goal at the World Cup, the most of any Argentina player in the competition’s history. Gabriel Batistuta (10) is surpassed.
*Messi became also the top World Cup goal-scorer among active players, ahead of Thomas Müller (10), Mbappé (9), Cristiano Ronaldo (8), Harry Kane (8), Neymar (8) and Luis Suárez (7).
* Lionel Messi and Luka Modric on March 1 in 2006. At 18, Messi scored his first international goal and Modric at 20, played his first international game. 6 131 days after, they met again in the World Cup in Qatar !
*Messi had never scored in a World Cup knockout match before the 2022 edition, but in Qatar he has already scored in each of such games (the round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal).
He is 6th player to score in the round of 16, quarterfinal and semifinal at a single World Cup edition, after Salvatore Schillaci (1990), Roberto Baggio (1994), Hristo Stoichkov (1994), Davor Šuker (1998) and Wesley Sneijder (2010).
*Since the 1966 edition, no player has scored or assisted in more different World Cup matches than Lionel Messi (13, level with Ronaldo).
*Lionel Messi has become the first player since 1966 to both score and assist in 4 separate World Cup matches (2006 vs Serbia, 2022 vs Mexico, Netherlands and Croatia).
*Julián Álvarez became the youngest player (22 years 316 days) to score twice in a World Cup semi-final or final since Pelé in 1958 (17 years 249 days).
*Julián Álvarez has scored 4 goals at World Cup 2022, becoming only the 2nd Argentina player to score this amount at a single edition at the age of 22 or under after Gonzalo Higuaín in 2010.
*Julián Álvarez has scored in 6 of his 8 starts for Argentina so far.
*Julián Álvarez is the 2nd player with a brace and a penalty caused in a World Cup semifinal, after Adolf Scherer (Czechoslovakia), against Yugoslavia in 1962.