Lionel Messi's 2022 World Cup Stats

Take a look at Lionel Messi's stats from the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after he was voted as the best player and awarded with the Golden Ball trophy.
Lionel Messi's 2022 World Cup Stats
Lionel Messi's 2022 World Cup Stats /

Argentina captain Lionel Messi was named as the best player at the 2022 FIFA World Cup after leading his team to the famous trophy.

Messi took home the Golden Ball award after beating Kylian Mbappe and Luka Modric in a vote among FIFA-appointed experts.

The 35-year-old almost left Qatar with the Golden Boot too. But he was denied that gong in the 118th minute of Sunday's epic final when Mbappe completed a hat-trick to take his tournament tally to eight goals.

Messi finished the tournament with seven goals and three assists in his seven appearances.

He was one of only three Argentina players to play in every single minute of their campaign - 690 in total after two games went to extra time.

Lionel Messi pictured during Argentina's 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia
Lionel Messi played in all 690 minutes of Argentina's World Cup campaign in Qatar :: IMAGO/NurPhoto/Ayman Aref

In those 690 minutes, Messi made 347 passes, five tackles and attempted 32 shots.

No other player from any team attempted as many as 32 shots, with Mbappe second on the list with 31.

Messi was one of five players to provide three assists in Qatar. He could have made even more assists had his teammates finished more accurately. Messi made 21 key passes - passes leading to a teammate shooting.

He was one of only eight players to make at least 10 key passes during the tournament. Dusan Tadic (10), Cody Gakpo (10), Angel Di Maria (10), Theo Hernandez (11), Ousmane Dembele (11), Mbappe (11) and Antoine Griezmann (22) were the others.

Lionel Messi (left) and Antoine Griezmann pictured during the 2022 FIFA World Cup final
Messi was second only to Antoine Griezmann (right) in terms of chances created for others :: IMAGO/Bildbyran/Joel Marklund

Messi has adapted his game over the years and now runs with the ball far less than he used to. Nevertheless, only Mbappe and Germany midfielder Jamal Musiala attempted more dribbles than Messi at Qatar 2022.

Of Messi's 34 dribbles attempted, 15 were successful. Mbappe had 25 successful dribbles out of 52 attempted, while Musiala's dribbling success rate was 17/36.

No player was fouled more than Messi. He was on the receiving end of 22 fouls - five more than Senegal's Ismaila Sarr and six more than Brazil forward Neymar.

Messi's World Cup In Numbers

Messi

Tournament High

Minutes:

690

690

Goals:

7

8 (Mbappe)

Assists:

3

3

Passes:

347

684 (Rodri)

Key Passes:

21

22 (Griezmann)

Shots:

32

32

Shots From Outside Box:

11

11

Total Dribbles:

34

52 (Mbappe)

Successful Dribbles:

15

25 (Mbappe)

Tackles:

5

26 (Hakimi)

Fouls Won:

22

22

Fouls Conceded:

10

17 (Dumfries and Timber)


Published
Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.