Lionel Messi’s farewell against Benin capped more than two decades with Argentina. Across that span, he shared the pitch with 188 teammates and scored 68 of his 126 goals after turning 30.
Messi played alongside Ángel Di María more often than any other teammate, sharing 113 matches. Javier Mascherano appeared with him in 111 games and Nicolás Otamendi in 107. The count includes only matches in which both players were on the field at the same time.
The age gap across Messi’s teammates spans 35 years. He played with Roberto Abbondanzieri, born in 1972, and finished his international career alongside players born in 2007. Leonel Flores made his debut in the farewell against Benin. After receiving a pass from Messi in a scoring chance, Flores said the captain told him: “Score.”
Messi and Otamendi played together in 21 World Cup matches. That is a record for a pair of teammates, shared with Luka Modrić and Ivan Perišić. In all, 82 Argentines played alongside Messi at a World Cup.
Thirty-one teammates assisted Messi’s Argentina goals. Di María and Gonzalo Higuaín supplied seven each, while Carlos Tevez and Sergio Agüero had six apiece. Tevez played 47 matches with Messi, compared with 81 for Agüero. Giovani Lo Celso and Ezequiel Lavezzi provided five assists each.
Messi scored against 46 of the 64 national teams he faced. Qatar is among the 18 teams he did not score against, despite playing it twice. He also failed to score against England, though he supplied two assists against them in the most recent World Cup semifinal.
Messi’s most prolific year for Argentina was 2022, when he scored 18 times. Seven goals came at the Qatar World Cup, which Argentina won. He scored 68 goals after turning 30, surpassing the national team’s previous record of 56 by Gabriel Batistuta.
Messi played 34 matches across six World Cups and scored 21 goals. Only Kylian Mbappé, with 22, has scored more. Fifteen of Messi’s goals came after he turned 35. He scored eight times at the 2026 tournament, while his first World Cup in 2006 featured three appearances.