Argentina are just one game away from winning their third World Cup – and their first since 1986.
The South Americans swept aside Croatia in the semi-final to put themselves within touching distance of the summit of global football.
The World Cup is the only prize missing from Lionel Messi’s stunning trophy cabinet, and the Argentinian has gone about changing that to great effect so far during Qatar 2022.
But exactly how many goals has the footballing legend scored at the World Cup so far this tournament, and how many goals in total has he scored in the competition throughout his career?
Read on to find out.
How many World Cup 2022 goals has Lionel Messi scored?
Messi has scored five goals so far at Qatar 2022.
His first came from the penalty spot in Argentina’s shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia in their opening group game.
Messi added to his tally with a precise long-range drive to open the scoring for the South Americans in their second group fixture against Mexico, which they went on to win 2-0.
After missing a penalty against Poland in their final group encounter, Messi found his goalscoring boots once again by scoring Argentina’s opening goal in the 2-1 round of 16 win over Australia.
The 35 year-old notched his fourth goal of the competition in the quarter-final against the Netherlands, slotting home from the penalty spot to add Argentina’s second of the game.
Argentina were given another penalty in the semi-final against Croatia, which saw Messi step up to rifle in his fifth goal of the tournament.
How many World Cup goals has he scored in total?
Before Qatar, Messi had scored six goals in the tournament, meaning that the Argentinian legend has scored a total of 11 goals at the World Cup across his career.
His very first came against Serbia and Montenegro in the 2006 group stage when he was aged just 19 years old, coming off the bench in the 75th minute to score just 13 minutes into his World Cup debut.
Argentina disappointed at the World Cup 2010 in South Africa, losing to Germany 4-0 in the quarter-final, with Messi heading home without scoring a single goal during the tournament.
Eight years after his first, Messi finally added his second World Cup goal with a strike against Bosnia Herzegovina in their opening group match of Brazil 2014.
The PSG forward’s third goal was a 90th minute winner against Iran in Argentina’s next match, with goals four and five then arriving against Nigeria in the final group game.
After failing to score in the knockout rounds during Argentina’s run to the final, Messi would have to wait until 2018 to add to his tally – Nigeria were once again the victims in Argentina’s win or bust final group game in Russia.
Messi’s ten World Cup goals brings him level with Gabriel Batistuta for the most goals scored at the World Cup by an Argentinian.
Ex-Germany striker Miroslav Klose holds the record for the most World Cup goals scored with a staggering 16.
MORE : Who has scored the most goals at the World Cup 2022?
MORE : Chris Sutton’s World Cup semi-final predictions ahead of Argentina v Croatia and France v Morocco
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