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Messi surprises everyone with exceptional speed
With years and age, speed is usually the first physical advantage that a football player loses; But when it comes to the legend Lionel Messi, logic is often pushed aside to make way for miracles with numbers.
At the age of thirty-nine, the captain of the Argentine national team is not satisfied with the leadership of the “Albiceleste”. The regular world championship finalRather, he is also the top scorer at the 2026 World Cup and is in strong competition for the best positions in terms of goal creation and successful dribbles.
The surprises didn’t stop there as the statistics revealed a surprising number as Messi recorded a higher top speed in the current World Cup than he achieved at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the tournament where he led his country to the title and won the man of the match award.
It is clear that Messi no longer has the physical explosiveness that characterized the best years of his Barcelona career. Between 2009 and 2015, its top speed fluctuated between 32.5 and 33.5 km/h, and in some measurements even approached 34 km/h. For comparison, one of the fastest players on the planet today, Frenchman Kylian Mbappe, recently clocked a top speed of 35 km/h. According to sports performance experts, soccer players typically begin to lose about 2% of their speed between the ages of 30 and 35, and the rate of decline accelerates to approximately 3% after that age. ESPN:.
During the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when Messi was 35 years old, he recorded a top speed of 29.38 km/h. Although he was far from his former physical records, he continued to make a difference thanks to his brilliant, penetrating vision, ability to disrupt defenses and his decisive passing in the final third.
As for the current World Cup 2026, the Argentine star has surprised everyone with a higher number. In the match against Algeria, he recorded a top speed of 30.9 km/h, which is more than 5% more than his best performance in the previous World Cup.
This increase in speed does not mean that Messi runs longer distances during games; Conversely, total distance traveled is one variable that has decreased significantly over the years.
Messi’s maximum distance covered in this World Cup was…Lal’s epic semi-final clash against EnglandDuring 90 minutes, he ran 8.2 kilometers, and in that particular game he recorded a maximum speed of 29 km/h. Which shows that time has indeed changed Messi’s style of play as he now distributes his physicality very intelligently and chooses the crucial moments, but his top speed figures prove that he is still capable of dazzling everyone and defying all physical expectations.
