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The captain of the world champions has built a career out of making history. He turns 39 in June, which for a typical mortal would probably make this year's his last World Cup.
Lionel Messi is superhuman when it comes to footballing ability but World Cup 2026 could be the last international hurrah even for the Argentina skipper and eight-time Ballon d'Or winner.
The first captain to lift consecutive World Cups
Argentina have given themselves the opportunity to become just the third team in World Cup history to win the trophy in back-to-back tournaments. Only Italy and Brazil have retained the title of world champions.
The Azzurri won the second and third World Cups under Vittorio Pozzo but 1934 captain Virginio Rosetta was succeeded in 1938 by one Giuseppe Meazza.
Brazil's captain in 1958 was Hilderaldo Bellini. He was in the squad that successfully defended the trophy in 1962 but was captained in Chile by defender Mauro Ramos.
The first player to appear at six World Cup tournaments
Argentina play Algeria at Arrowhead Stadium on June 16, one day before Portugal face DR Congo at NRG Stadium.
That means there's a chance that Messi will beat Cristiano Ronaldo to become the first footballer to play at six different men's World Cups. Both are among the six players with caps at five finals tournaments – the other four are now retired.
Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa could be included in El Tri's World Cup squad for a sixth time but he was unused in 2006 and 2010.
Having played in each of the last five World Cup tournaments, Messi has already played in more matches at the finals than any other player. Ronaldo is four matches behind.
The top World Cup scorer of all time
The Argentina captain is so prolific that the idea of him not scoring the four goals that would take him past Germany striker Miroslav Klose to become the World Cup's greatest scorer seems absurd.
Messi has 13 goals across five tournaments, level with World Cup 1958 Golden Boot winner Just Fontaine and three behind Klose.
Scoring 14 to beat Fontaine's single-tournament record is a taller order but a blank for Cristiano Ronaldo would leave the door open for Messi to equal his record of scoring at five tournaments. The Portugal captain's five scoring tournaments were consecutive for good measure.
The oldest World Cup final goalscorer
When Messi scored against France in the final of World Cup 2022, he went on to become the oldest player to score in a World Cup final and win.
The outright oldest World Cup final goalscorer is the legendary Niels Liedholm. The AC Milan icon was 87 days older in 1962 but Sweden were beaten by Brazil in the final. If Argentina make back-to-back finals and Messi scores, he'll have another record to his name.
The World Cup assist king
Portugal captain Ronaldo has scored at all five of his previous tournaments between 2006 and 2022 but Messi is the only player to claim an assist at five different World Cups.
He holds this record already, such as it is, but what's a sixth consecutive World Cup assist notching between friends?
The World Cup penalty shoot-out master
Messi and Croatia captain Luka Modric have participated and scored in three World Cup penalty shoot-outs each, both shared records that could be claimed outright by either player this summer.
Only one player has taken part in three World Cup shoot-outs without scoring in all three. Roberto Baggio's lone World Cup penalty miss might be the most infamous penalty miss of all.
Of course, there's always a chance Argentina or Messi or anyone else stumbles upon an open-ended record like the most goals in a match or the earliest World Cup goal, but on those ones we'll just have to wait and see.
