Lionel Messi enters Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final against Switzerland having already redrawn the record books. His eighth goal of the tournament, scored in a dramatic comeback against Egypt, lifted his all-time tally to 21 and broke the mark of 16 long held by Germany’s Miroslav Klose. The 39-year-old is tied with France’s Kylian Mbappé atop the scoring chart in this edition, yet the numbers only hint at the dependency Argentina have developed on their captain.

That reliance is stark. Messi’s eight goals account for 57 per cent of Argentina’s 14 in the competition, a share that exceeds even his contribution during the triumphant 2022 campaign in Qatar. He has taken 18 shots on target, more than all his teammates combined, and his expected-goals figure of 5.65 leads the tournament. Despite carefully managing his energy, he has covered 36 kilometres, the fourth-highest distance in the squad. Analysts in Buenos Aires note that his influence has grown steadily with age: at the 2021 Copa América he scored 33 per cent of Argentina’s goals, a figure that dipped to 11 per cent in 2024, only to surge again on the game’s biggest stage.

Viewed from Europe, the longevity is almost disorienting. Spain’s head coach Luis de la Fuente remarked that Messi “looks like a 19 or 23-year-old”, while Switzerland’s Granit Xhaka admitted it was a “privilege” to face him. In England, the all-time list now reads Messi 21, Mbappé 20, Klose 16, with the Frenchman the only credible threat to the new benchmark. Even Mbappé himself has called Messi “the best in the world”, and Norway’s Erling Haaland posted simply that the Argentine is “the best of all time”.

Messi’s quarter-final history is balanced on a knife-edge: two wins and two defeats. His first, in 2006, was spent on the bench as Germany eliminated Argentina on penalties. Four years later, the same opponent routed them 4-0. The breakthrough came in 2014 with a 1-0 victory over Belgium, and the most recent, the acrimonious “Battle of Lusail” against the Netherlands in 2022, ended with a penalty shootout win and Messi’s now-famous “Andá pa’ allá, bobo” retort. This time, Switzerland await at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, with a semi-final place at stake.

The match will pit Messi against a Swiss side that has never before reached the last four. For Argentina, the equation is simple: their captain’s historic form must hold for one more night to keep alive the prospect of back-to-back titles.