Lionel Messi was named the official Player of the Match, following Argentina’s victory over Croatia on Tuesday.
Messi received the honor, which was bestowed by the competition’s official partner Budweiser, after he contributed a goal and an assist to Argentina’s 3-0 triumph.
Messi is the first player in World Cup history to win a career total of 10 Player of the Match accolades.
Arjen Robben, a former Holland winger, won six of the awards during his career, while Cristiano Ronaldo has won seven.
Luka Modric, Kylian Mbappe, and Luis Suarez each have five of the award.
Harry Kane, Neymar, Eden Hazard, Miroslav Klose, Keisuke Honda, James Rodriguez, Wesley Sneijder, Thomas Muller, and Park Ji-sung are among the players with four victories.
Messi scored his team’s first goal from the penalty spot, then waltzed past several Croatian players to set up Julian Alvarez for his team’s third goal. With this, he won yet another player of the match honor, increasing his lead for the most World Cup man of the match honors.
He now has four player of the match awards from the ongoing World Cup in Qatar, which is a World Cup record. Messi received four of these honors in 2014, and Wesley Sneijder of the Netherlands received the same number in 2010.
With a player of the match award against Australia in the Round of 16, Messi advanced above Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, who has seven trophies in the quadrennial extravaganza.
Arjen Robben, a former Dutch football player, ranks third on the list with six Player of the Match honors.
Note that the player of the match award was established in 2002.
At this point in the World Cup in Qatar, Messi has five goals and three assists. His best World Cup goal total was five during the 2014 tournament in Brazil, which Argentina lost to Germany in the final.
While the technical team selected the Player of the Match in the two inaugural editions, FIFA’s website has been used since 2010 to conduct an online poll to determine the winner.
2022 Lionel Messi’s Match Of The Match Award
| Date | Match | Man Of The Match |
| November 27, 2022 | Argentina vs Mexico | Lionel Messi |
| December 4, 2022 | Round of 16: Argentina vs Australia | Lionel Messi |
| December 9, 2022 | Quarterfinals: Argentina vs Netherlands | Lionel Messi |
| December 14, 2022 | Semifinals: Argentina vs Croatia | Lionel Messi |
Lionel Messi on International Stage
Messi, an Argentine international, is the nation’s all-time best scorer and holds the record for most appearances.
He won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship for youth players, taking home the Golden Ball and Golden Shoe awards as well as an Olympic gold medal at the 2008 Summer Games.
His small, left-footed dribbling style of play attracted analogies to that of his countryman Diego Maradona, who referred to Messi as his heir.
After making his senior debut in August 2005, Messi went on to win the 2007 Copa América, where he was named the tournament’s young player, and become the youngest Argentine to play and score in a FIFA World Cup in 2006.
Since August 2011, when he became the team’s captain, he has guided Argentina to three consecutive finals: the 2015 and 2016 Copa Américas, where he earned the Golden Ball in 2015, and the 2014 FIFA World Cup, in which he won the Golden Ball.
After declaring his international retirement in 2016, he then changed his mind and guided his nation to three major tournaments: the 2021 Copa América final (which Argentina won), the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where he earned him the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards, and the 2022 World Cup.
And now the PSG forward has made history as the only player to have won the most Man of The Match Award in the history of the World Cup.
Players With Most Man Of The Match Award in World Cup history
| Player | No. Of Award |
| Lionel Messi | 10 |
| Cristiano Ronaldo | 7 |
| Arjen Robben | 6 |
| Kylian Mbappe | 5 |
| Luka Modric | 5 |
| Luis Suarez | 5 |
| Harry Kane | 4 |
| Eden Hazard | 4 |
| Mirosclav Klose | 4 |
| Keisuke Honda | 4 |
| James Rodriguez | 4 |
| Wesley Sneijder | 4 |
| Thomas Muller | 4 |
| Park Jin-Sung | 4 |
