Argentine star Lionel Messi enters a new challenge in his World Cup career as he faces the English national team on Wednesday in Atlanta, seeking to write another chapter of his achievements.

These numbers come to confirm Messi's unique status in World Cup history, as he continues to enhance his football legacy.

The British news agency PA Media highlights the most important numbers of the Argentine star in the biggest event.

Messi led Argentina to the 2022 World Cup title in Qatar, scoring seven goals including a brace in the final that they won against France on penalties.

It seemed to everyone that this victory was primarily driven by the desire to crown Messi with the title before retirement, but he did not stop at leading the team to win the title; he returned after four years to lead the team again.

The 39-year-old player scored eight goals in the tournament this summer, the same number as Frenchman Kylian Mbappé, and aims for a historic double.

The World Cup top scorer title remains out of reach for Messi, after Kylian Mbappé outperformed him in the previous edition by scoring three goals (hat-trick) in the final match that his French team lost.

Messi and Mbappé are also competing for the top scorer title in this edition, with Mbappé again ahead in goals and assists in fewer minutes.

The English duo Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are in the ranking with six goals each, while one competitor, Norwegian Erling Haaland, has been eliminated from the tournament.

Messi has won the Best Player award twice, and this summer he added many records. Mbappé is one goal behind him in the all-time top scorers ranking of the competition, which Messi leads with 21 goals, and it seems he will hold this title for a long time.

The duo surpassed the previous all-time top scorer of the competition, German Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 goals, while Kane rose in the ranking with 14 goals.

Messi and Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo became the first players to participate in six World Cups, surpassing the record set by German Lothar Matthäus who played in 25 World Cup matches. Messi is preparing for his 33rd match in the tournament to surpass Ronaldo in number of matches.

Messi scored only one goal in his first appearance in the tournament in 2006 in Germany, and did not score any goals in the 2010 edition in South Africa, but he returned to score four goals in the 2014 edition hosted by Brazil, the traditional rival of his national team.

In the 2018 edition in Russia, he scored one goal, while the 2022 edition in Qatar saw him score more goals than he had in all previous editions combined, and he has taken a similar step in the current edition.

Messi increased his penalty count in the 2022 edition to four, but he missed one, and that problem reappeared in the current edition.

Messi missed a penalty in the match the team won against Austria in the group stage, then Egypt goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir saved a penalty in the round of 16, meaning he has scored four penalties out of eight awarded to him.

But Messi succeeded in scoring in World Cup penalty shootouts, twice against the Netherlands in 2014 and 2022, and in the Qatar World Cup final against France.

Messi sat on the bench in the match that the Argentine national team lost to Germany in the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup, when he was 19 years old.

"); googletag.cmd.push(function() { onDvtagReady(function () { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-3341368-4'); }); }); }

The competition between Messi and Mbappé remains a major focus in this edition, as each seeks to enhance his legacy. Meanwhile, football fans await the possibility of Messi achieving a rare double combining the tournament title and the top scorer award, which he has not achieved before. Also, Messi's lead in all-time goals (21 goals) makes him a candidate to hold the top spot for a long time.