The performances of great players at the 2026 World Cup continued with Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé matching productions. The clear trend that the 2026 World Cup has followed is that great players have carried their teams. With France beating Morocco in the first quarterfinal, a curious thing occurred as Kylian Mbappé produced an almost identical performance to Lionel Messi with Argentina three days earlier.
Their matches were vastly different, not just because they were played in different rounds. Argentina needed to suffer to come back from 0-2 against Egypt and score three goals in 14 minutes, while France eliminated Morocco with a convincing 2-0 victory.
What those matches had in common was the performance of their main players, as Messi and Mbappé pushed their teams forward by scoring one goal, adding an assist and also missing a penalty kick during the match.
Their goals weren’t surprising
In almost every single match France and Argentina have played in the competition, Mbappé and Messi have scored a goal. Their performances have been so impressive that they are leading the race to be the top scorers with eight goals each.
Bono saved the penalty to his left (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
The context was similar because neither of their recent goals came in a decided match in favor of their teams. One helped France open the scoring against Morocco in a goalless match, while the other rescued Argentina by bringing them level against Egypt.
Scoring is not the only way these talented players help their teams, and they showed that again with assists. Mbappé assisted Ousmane Dembélé to seal the victory that sent France into the semifinals, while Messi began Argentina’s comeback with an assist for a Cristian Romero header to make it 2-1.
The missed penalties
The most surprising coincidence was that both players missed a penalty kick, even though it had no consequence for the final results.
Messi missed his second penalty of the tournament while Argentina were trailing Egypt 1-0 in the first half. After previously missing from the spot against Austria, he kicked weakly to the goalkeeper’s left, where the shot was easily saved.
Mbappé also missed from the spot during the first half against Morocco, when the match was still 0-0. The French forward rarely misses penalties but found an experienced opponent in Yassine Bono, who stopped his shot by diving to his left.