Messi’s assists vs England puts him into lead in FIFA World Cup Golden Boot race

3 min readUpdated: Jul 16, 2026 04:56 AM IST

Argentina's Lionel Messi (10) reacts as he leaves the ground after their win in the World Cup semifinal soccer match between England and Argentina in Atlanta, Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacob Kupferman)

With his two sparkling assists against England, Lionel Messi currently leads the Golden Boot race with 8 goals and 4 assists. He pipped Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday night after he turned provider for Enzo Fernandez and Lautaro Martinez in Argentina’s 2-1 semifinal win against England. Both Messi and Mbappe have 8 goals each with the Argentinian just ahead due to his 4 assists as opposed to the French star’s two.

Both Messi and Mbappe have one more match left with France facing England in the third place match on Saturday while Argentina will clash with Spain in the final on Sunday.  England’s Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are at No 4 and 5 respectively with 6 goals while France’s Ousmane Dembele and Spain’s Mikel Oyarzabal are 6th and 7th with 5 goals. All these players still have one match left while Norway’s Erling Haaland who is 3rd with 7 goals has no chance of bettering his numbers due to his team’s elimination in the quarterfinal.

The 39-year-old Messi has played every minute of all four of Argentina’s knockout games at the tournament, making an ‌art of preserving his energy for the moments that matter. He scored goals in the tricky 3-2 wins over Cape Verde and Egypt and came up with an assist in the 3-1 extra-time win over Switzerland in the quarter-finals. His influence on Wednesday’s match increased as the match wore on and he really came into his own ⁠as Argentina laid siege ⁠to the England penalty area after they went 1-0 down in the 55th minute.

Moving out from the ⁠centre of the ‌attack to the right wing, he whipped a string ​of dangerous crosses into the penalty area to ‌create opportunities for his teammates. It was his pass that found Enzo Fernandez on the edge of the box for the ‌midfielder to lash home ​the equaliser ​in the ​85th minute, and he scrambled to keep the ball in play before lofting in the cross for Martinez’s ​winner seven minutes later. Wednesday’s assists took his tally ⁠to 12 at World Cups, a record that sits alongside his 21 goals at soccer’s global showpiece.

Leading goalscorers in FIFA World Cup 2026

Rank

Player

Country

Goals

Assists

1

Lionel Messi

Argentina

8

4

2

Kylian Mbappé

France

8

3

3

Erling Haaland

Norway

7

0

4

Jude Bellingham

England

6

1

5

Harry Kane

England

6

1

6

Ousmane Dembélé

France

5

2

7

Mikel Oyarzabal

Spain

5

1

8

Ismaïla Sarr

Senegal

4

1

9

Julián Quiñones

Mexico

4

1

10

Vinícius Júnior

Brazil

4

1