One of football's great heavyweight nations, Argentina has birthed some of the greatest attacking players of all-time.
Brazil had Pele, Portugal have Cristiano Ronaldo, but no other country can name two men that dominated their eras like Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona.
Even without Messi or Maradona, Argentina have always possessed a dangerous goal threat, from the top scorer at the 1930 World Cup, Guillermo Stabile, to the present day.
But which of Argentina's talented finishers scored the most goals? And who has scored the most on the biggest stage at the World Cup?
MORE: Messi vs. Ronaldo at World Cup: Goals, stats, records
Argentina top scorer at World Cups
With his penalty-kick goal against the Netherlands in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals, Lionel Messi tied Gabriel Batistuta for most World Cup goals by an Argentina player and he claimed the record all for himself with a semifinal penalty goal against Croatia.
He went on to score twice more in the Qatar 2022 final.
Batistuta reached double-digits in 12 matches across three tournaments (1994, 1998, 2002).
Meanwhile, Messi's 13 career World Cup goals have come in double Batistuta's matches and across five World Cup tournaments (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022) though he went goal-less in 2010.
| Pos. | Player | World Cup goals |
World Cup matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lionel Messi | 13 | 26 |
| 2. | Gabriel Batistuta | 10 | 12 |
| 3. | Guillermo Stabile | 8 | 4 |
| Diego Maradona | 8 | 21 | |
| 5. | Mario Kempes | 6 | 18 |
| 6. | Gonzalo Higuain | 5 | 14 |
| 7. | Daniel Bertoni | 4 | 11 |
| Claudio Caniggia | 4 | 9 | |
| Hernan Crespo | 4 | 8 | |
| Rene Houseman | 4 | 12 | |
| Leopoldo Luque | 4 | 5 | |
| Jorge Valdano | 4 | 9 |
Who is Argentina's all-time top-scorer?
For a man who has broken hundreds of records across his career, it's no surprise that Lionel Messi leads Argentina's top-scorer charts.
Messi has amassed 98 goals for his nation, the latest two coming in the final of the World Cup as he scored a double en route to Argentina's dramatic 4-2 penalty shootout win over France. Messi also netted in the shootout after the game had ended 3-3 following extra time.
The former Barcelona icon's relentlessness mean he dominates the list, dwarfing the record of some truly phenomenal players.
Gabriel Batistuta amassed his 56 goals at a faster rate than Messi, but a spell out of the team in 1997 and his power fading at any earlier age than the current Argentina captain meant 'Batigol' couldn't build an even greater total.
Lionel Messi has now scored 11 World Cup goals. He is now Argentina’s all time top World Cup Goal scorer.
— BD Albiceleste 🇧🇩💙🇦🇷 (@bd_albiceleste) December 13, 2022
Number 1. 🥇 pic.twitter.com/nD9DzDGK76
Sergio Aguero is in third-place on the list. The Manchester City great accumulated 42 goals in a century of appearances, although most of those came in international friendlies.
List of Argentina's top scorers
Argentina have never lacked a goal-threat down the generations, but Messi rules them all by some margin.
| Pos. | Player | Goals (World Cup) |
Matches |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Lionel Messi | 98 (13) | 172 |
| 2. | Gabriel Batistuta | 56 (10) | 78 |
| 3. | Sergio Aguero | 42 (2) | 100 |
| 4. | Hernan Crespo | 35 (4) | 64 |
| 5. | Diego Maradona | 34 (8) | 91 |
| 6. | Gonzalo Higuain | 31 (5) | 75 |
| 7. | Angel Di Maria | 27 (2) | 128 |
Where does Diego Maradona rank in Argentina history?
Diego Maradona is still, to some, the greatest player to even grace a football pitch. The No.10 could do things that haven't been repeated, and perhaps never will be.
But despite his mesmeric ability, Maradona 'only' managed 34 goals in 91 appearances for Argentina, enough for fifth on the all-time scorers list.
MORE: Diego Maradona's Hand of God, the story of a legendary World Cup moment
Maradona was the driving force and defining image of the 1986 World Cup, which Argentina won.
He scored eight World Cup goals across his career, but statistics will never do Maradona justice. The great man's goals and unstoppable dribbling often overshadowed his passing ability, which was just as phenomenal.