Records upon records: Lionel Messi's numbers with Argentina

Lionel Messi will bring his Argentina career to a close tonight after 207 appearances and scoring 125 goals for the senior national team, making him the country's most-capped player and all-time leading scorer. 

Over more than two decades, the 39-year-old won four major titles with the men’s senior side. The figure rises six if Messi’s youth titles – he was part of the squads that won the 2005 Under-20 World Cup and gold at the 2008 Olympics – are included.

The Rosario-born star made his senior debut on August 17, 2005 against Hungary, in a friendly in Budapest, though he was famously sent off just seconds after coming on. 

His final competitive appearance came in the 2026 World Cup final against Spain, played in New Jersey, United States, on July 19.

Messi’s 125 goals in 207 appearances give him a scoring rate of 0.60 goals per game. As well as topping both rankings for Argentina, he ends his career as the South American record-holder for appearances and goals in men's international football.

The breakdown of goals runs as follows: 54 in friendlies, 36 in South American World Cup qualifiers, 21 at World Cups and 14 at Copa América tournaments. His 36 qualifying goals also make him the all-time leading scorer in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying tournaments.

With the senior national team, Messi won four titles: the 2021 Copa América, the 2022 Finalissima, the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and the 2024 Copa América. 

After years of hurt, his first senior international title, a Copa América, came at the Maracanã against Brazil, before he lifted the World Cup as captain in Qatar a year and a half later.

Including all Argentina age groups, Messi has won six titles in the national team shirt. Before his four senior triumphs, he won the 2005 Under-20 World Cup in the Netherlands, where he was both top scorer and player of the tournament, and an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Games.

The diminutive playmaker played at six World Cups: Germany 2006, South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014, Russia 2018, Qatar 2022 and the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada. He reached three finals, finishing runner-up in 2014 and 2026 and winning the title in 2022.

At the World Cup, he made 34 appearances and scored 21 goals, recording 23 victories. He holds the records for most appearances and most wins in the history of the competition to date, while his 21 goals leave him just one place behind the youthful Kylian Mbappé, who finished the 2026 World Cup with 22.

Messi is also the only player to have won the World Cup Golden Ball twice, receiving the award as the tournament's best player in Brazil in 2014 and Qatar in 2022. At the 2022 tournament, he also became the only player to score in every stage of a single World Cup — the group stage, round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

A record-breaker in Copa América tournaments, he made 39 appearances across seven editions between 2007 and 2024 – more than any other player in the tournament's history. He scored 14 goals and reached the finals in 2007, 2015, 2016, 2021 and 2024, winning the title in the last two.

In South American World Cup qualifying games, Messi made 72 appearances and scored 36 goals. He shares the record for most appearances in CONMEBOL qualifying with Ecuador's Iván Hurtado, while holding the outright record for most goals.

Messi also became the oldest Argentine to score at a World Cup during the 2026 tournament, finding the net at the age of 39. He scored eight goals and provided four assists as Argentina reached the final against Spain, where they fell at the final hurdle.

Tonight he will bid farewell to the Albiceleste with a friendly against Benin at the Monumental in Buenos Aires, where a nation bid say thank you for the memories.