While the great Lionel Messi has played over 200 times for his country and repeatedly squared off against most of the world’s heavyweights at the FIFA World Cup and Copa América, it remains — at least for the time being — a strange historical quirk that the Argentina captain has never once played against England.
Argentina and England have not played each other in an international fixture of any form since a friendly in Geneva in November 2005, the same year that 18-year-old Messi made his senior debut for the Albiceleste.
With Messi now set to come up against Thomas Tuchel’s side in Wednesday’s second semifinal of the 2026 World Cup, the GOAT is relishing the prospect of taking on England for the first time in his long and vaunted career.
“Obviously, playing against England is special because they are a powerhouse, and matches against powerhouses are always special,” he told ESPN. “Personally, it’s the first time I’m going to play against them. I’ve played against everyone except England, so it will be nice for that reason too.”
Ahead of Messi’s first meeting with England, we thought we’d examine his record against a selection of the biggest, most successful nations in men’s international football just to assess how he has fared against the top sides.
Messi vs. Brazil: 14 matches (Won 6, Drew 2, Lost 6), 5 goals, 0 assists
Messi’s first game against Argentina’s fiercest rivals Brazil was a 3-0 loss in a friendly at Arsenal‘s Emirates Stadium back in 2006. Elano scored Brazil’s first two goals before a rare error in possession from Messi — who was a peripheral presence up to that point — allowed Kaká to steal the ball, wriggle through the penalty area and steer home a third goal for Brazil to flesh out the rout.
While the results between the two sides have been fairly level since then, Messi still has never scored a goal in a senior competitive fixture against Brazil in eight attempts — with all five of his goals against the Seleção coming in friendlies. Messi played in two Copa América finals against Brazil, losing the first (2007) and winning the other (2021), but he failed to register a goal or assist in either.
Perhaps his most impressive individual return was in the summer friendly game between the two nations in New Jersey back in June 2012, when a virtuoso hat trick (capped off by a sensational curling 85th-minute winner) helped to nudge Argentina to a 4-3 victory.
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Messi vs. France: 3 matches (W2, D0, L1), 3 goals, 2 assists
Messi hasn’t faced France since the last time the two countries came face-to-face in the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar, a matchup that could yet repeat this summer.
The game in Lusail was a modern classic. Messi scored twice during a remarkable 120-minute duel with Kylian Mbappé, who scored two goals in quick succession in the final 10 minutes of normal time to force an additional 30 minutes and then netted again to take the game to penalties. The Argentina captain then converted the first spot kick of the shootout as his side held its collective nerve to lift the trophy for the third time.
Messi and Mbappé also went toe-to-toe at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, though it was the teenage France forward who stole the show, scoring twice in a round-of-16 victory for Les Bleus. Messi was able to lay on two assists but didn’t find the net in a pulsating 4-3 defeat.
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Messi’s only previous outing against France came in a friendly in Marseille in 2009 in which he scored Argentina’s second goal in a fairly routine 2-0 victory.
Messi vs. Germany: 4 matches (W2, D0, L2), 1 goal, 0 assists
Over the course of two World Cup meetings and two friendlies, Messi has endured mixed fortunes against Germany. Unfortunately for Messi, he has only ever beaten Germany in noncompetitive fixtures, with Argentina winning friendlies in 2010 and 2012.
Messi drew a total blank in the first of the two games (a 1-0 win for Argentina at the Allianz Arena) before finally breaking his duck (and missing a penalty) in the second: a comfortable 3-1 win for the Albiceleste in Frankfurt.
With Messi on the field, the two nations have met twice in the World Cup to date, though the Germans have emerged victorious on both occasions, first thrashing a Diego Maradona-coached side 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the 2010 World Cup before returning to pip Argentina by a single, heartbreaking Mario Götze goal in the dying seconds of the 2014 final.
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Messi vs. Italy: 1 match (W1, D0, L0), 0 goals, 2 assists
Largely due to Italy’s recent habit of failing to qualify for World Cups, Messi has played against the Italians only once during his career. That game was 2022’s inaugural Finalissima, FIFA’s revival of the old Cup of Champions match between the winners of the European Championship and the Copa América.
Argentina cantered to a 3-0 victory at Wembley, and while Messi didn’t score, he did have a massive influence on the tie by notching assists for teammates Lautaro Martínez and Paulo Dybala, earning the Player of the Match award as a result.
Messi vs. Spain: 3 matches (W1, D0, L2), 2 goals, 0 assists
Despite spending the majority of his club career excelling in LaLiga, Messi has played against Spain at the international level on only three occasions, and all have been friendly fixtures.
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The first was a 2-1 defeat for Argentina in Murcia in 2006, in which the young Messi played 66 fairly innocuous minutes before being taken off for Javier Saviola. The second came three years later as Argentina were once again beaten 2-1 on Spanish soil, this time losing in Sevilla. However, Messi did manage to score the Albiceleste’s consolation goal from the penalty spot.
Messi’s third and most recent encounter against Spain came the following year when he and Argentina were finally able to overturn La Roja in a much more eventful encounter at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires. Messi opened the scoring early on with a delightfully deft chip in what proved to be a comprehensive 4-1 victory against the newly crowned world champions.
The two nations were meant to meet in the 2026 edition of the Finalissima, which was scheduled to be played in Qatar, but the match was canceled after the U.S.-Israel strikes on Iran and the subsequent repercussions across the region.
