On the Kansas City field in the US, Messi delivered a corner kick from the left flank to the near post, allowing Mac Allister to head it into the top corner for the opening goal. The Liverpool midfielder scored his first goal of the tournament, while Messi became the first player officially credited with 10 assists in World Cup history, according to Opta statistics.

Maradona ranks second with 8 assists, while Pierre Littbarski (Germany) and Grzegorz Lato (Poland) each have 7 assists. The next group includes several football legends such as Pele, David Beckham, Thomas Muller, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Ivan Perisic, all with six assists.

Messi also exclusively holds the record when considering controversial or unofficially recognized statistics. FIFA, for instance, credits Pele with 9 assists. However, FIFA's statistics include final passes that were deflected before a teammate scored, differing from Opta's criteria. Additionally, the statistics firm notes that German legend Fritz Walter had 9 assists if World Cups before 1966 are included.

The forward, born in 1987, is also the first player to provide assists in 6 different World Cups. Messi's first assist was for Hernan Crespo in Argentina's 6-0 victory over Serbia & Montenegro in Germany in 2006. He then had one more assist in 2010 and 2014, two assists in 2018, and three assists during Argentina's championship run in 2022, before claiming the exclusive record with his pass to Allister against Switzerland.

Messi has also assisted 10 different players: Crespo (2006), Carlos Tevez (2010), Angel Di Maria (2014), Mercado, Sergio Aguero (2018), Enzo Fernandez, Molina, Julian Alvarez (2022), Cristian Romero, and Allister (2026). His most memorable assist occurred in Qatar 2022 during the 3-0 semifinal win against Croatia. The former Barca and PSG forward dribbled from midfield, past one of the tournament's best center-backs, Josko Gvardiol, then crossed for Alvarez to score.

Argentina forward Lionel Messi (left) celebrates with Alexis Mac Allister (second from left) after the opening goal in the 10th minute during the World Cup 2026 quarterfinal match against Switzerland at Kansas City, US on 11/7. Photo: AP

Players with the potential to approach or break Messi's record are Michael Olise and Kylian Mbappe, both currently with 5 assists. These two French players could participate in many more World Cups, as they are only 25 and 28 years old, respectively.

Messi also holds numerous other World Cup records, such as the player who has competed in the most tournaments (6), played the most matches (32), scored the most goals (21), the oldest player to score a hat-trick (38 years and 357 days), scored in the most consecutive matches (9), and missed the most penalties (4).

The 39-year-old forward is also the 4th player to feature in four World Cup quarterfinals, following Lothar Matthaus, Miroslav Klose, and Uwe Seeler of Germany. Argentina also became the first team to score first against Switzerland after 11 matches in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and finals.

With an average age of 30 years and 177 days, Argentina also fielded the oldest starting lineup in a quarterfinal since Brazil in 1962, which averaged 30 years and 209 days. Meanwhile, coach Lionel Scaloni has managed Argentina in 13 World Cup matches, just one match shy of Carlos Salvador Bilardo's record (14).

Trung Thu compiled