Messi turns 39: World Cup's leading scorer and best-performing player — somehow better than ever

Forget the whispers. Forget the pre-tournament silence. Messi hit a hat-trick against Algeria, leveling Miroslav Klose's all-time World Cup goal record. Then a brace against Austria. Two clear now. He only needs two more to equal his whole 2022 Qatar haul, the one where he lifted the damn trophy. This is his sixth World Cup. Another record, if you're counting.

Scaloni waffled in March. 'Up to him, how he feels.' The man delivers *this* at 39. Relief at his inclusion? That turned to pure astonishment. Absurd, to doubt him, really.

It's not just the goals, either. Sky Sports' own power rankings, the ones measuring *everything*, peg Messi as the tournament's top dog. He's 96th percentile or better for non-penalty expected goals, for shots, for passes into the final third. Even 92nd for progressive carries, 86th for expected assists from open play. He's winning possessions 72% of the time. This isn't just a forward. This is a midfielder. A ghost.

How does a 39-year-old pull this off? Simple. Smart energy management. The man covers just 7.8km per 90 minutes. That's the lowest of any midfielder or forward in the competition. Scaloni, credit where it's due, has built a whole damn system around him. Younger legs like Enzo Fernandez, Thiago Almada, Lautaro Martinez, and Julian Alvarez do the grunt work. Messi drifts. Conserves. Then he strikes.

Sure, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland are sniffing around with four goals each for the Golden Boot. But for now? Messi leads on every single metric that matters. End of story.