Shobeir's Glove Hands Messi a Negative Historical Record

Egyptian goalkeeper Mustafa Shobeir shone against Argentine legend Lionel Messi after saving a penalty awarded to his national team against Egypt in their Round of 16 match of the 2026 World Cup. The score was 1-0 for Egypt with a goal by Yasser Ibrahim when the referee awarded a penalty to Argentina, which Messi took, but Shobeir excelled and saved it, denying the "Tango dancers" an equalizer. Then Argentina turned the tables in the final minutes, turning a two-goal deficit into a deserved 3-2 victory.

This penalty became the fourth that Messi has missed in his World Cup career, having missed one against Iceland in the 2018 World Cup, another against Poland in the 2022 Qatar World Cup, as well as missing a penalty against Austria in the group stage of the current edition. Messi set a negative record by missing two penalties in a single World Cup edition for the first time. He also reinforced his lead as the player with the most missed penalties in World Cup history with 4 missed penalties (excluding penalty shootouts). He is far ahead of any other player in the tournament's history.