Why Messi is the best player at the World Cup -- and the best male athlete of all time
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- Lionel Messi has scored 8 goals at the 2026 World Cup (tied with France's Kylian Mbappé) while leading the tournament with 34 shots attempted and ranking first in expected assists among all players.
- Messi's all-around dominance extends well beyond finishing — he's completed 68 progressive passes (20 more than any other player) and 45 progressive carries (3 more than Spain's 19-year-old Lamine Yamal), per the stats app Futi.
- Futi's possession-value model, which measures how each touch changes the probability of scoring or conceding, rates Messi at the 99th percentile among World Cup semifinalists, compared to Mbappé's 83.
- Argentina advanced to the World Cup final against Spain, where Messi faces Barcelona winger Yamal, described in the article as a 'potential heir apparent.'
- Analyst Michael Caley argued Messi was 'the three best players of his era,' contending he was roughly tied with Cristiano Ronaldo as the greatest goal-scorer, stood alone as the best chance creator, and rivaled only Eden Hazard as a ball progressor at his peak.
- The article's GOAT framework rules out Pelé and Maradona because soccer wasn't as globalized or competitive in their eras, and contends Messi's gap over the next-best player exceeds Tom Brady's NFL edge, the Jordan-LeBron NBA debate, and Wayne Gretzky's NHL dominance — none of which match soccer's roughly 30% global participation versus about 5% for basketball.
Why it matters: Messi's 99th-percentile possession-value rating at 39 — versus Mbappé's 83 — and his 68 progressive passes (20 clear of the field) make the GOAT case difficult to dismiss on data alone, just as Argentina faces Spain in Sunday's final with Yamal waiting as the would-be successor.
