Lionel Messi defies time to play most minutes at World Cup

Lionel Messi created a legacy of records that are likely to last a long time. He won the Golden Ball for the best player, he was named Player of the Match in five of his country's seven matches, and no player provided more than his three assists.

Messi's seven goals at the World Cup made him Argentina's all-time leading goal scorer with 13 and he has played more World Cup games than anyone else.

He has played every single minute of Argentina's campaign, tying for the most minutes among all players at the tournament. Hugo Lloris is the only player over the age of 35 in the top 50 appearances.

In Argentina's seven matches, the Paris Saint-Germain forward is joined by the goalkeeper and the veteran Nicolas Otamendi.

It's fair to say that Messi won't be returning to Paris until after the first game of the new year. On Monday, for example, the Villa side is due to take on the Reds, and on December 30th, the Benfica side is due to take on the Braga team.

The trio played for 13 hours and 10 minutes. There are two players on the pitch for 754 minutes, with Croatia goalkeeper Livakovic and defender Gvardiol.

The arch-rival of Messi, who was dropped by Portugal during the tournament, played only 309 minutes, which was 135th on the list.

Kylian Mbappe, who just pipped Lionel Messi to the Golden Boot with his hat trick in the final, played for over 700 minutes. Aurelien Tchouameni is the only one who can top that.

Modric goes back a long time.

Luka Modric of Real Madrid is one of two Croatia players in the top eight.

There are only two players older than Modric in the top 100 minutes played, with Thiago Silva, 38, and FC Porto's 39-year-old defender, Pepe, both playing for Brazil.

Croatia could have had three players higher up the table, but coach Zlatko Dalic chose not to use them.

The player who played the most minutes for the country was Sofyan Amrabat, who is sixth on the list. The two players played 699 minutes with the other player.

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Lionel Messi and his teammates narrowly avoided disaster as they duck under wires on top of their bus.

It's the best of the rest.

Two more games than any other country, the four teams that reached the semifinals dominated minutes played. Several players from the Netherlands are still on the list.

Heerenveen goalkeeper Andries Noppert was the only one in the Dutch league who played all 538 minutes.

Jordan Pickford was the only one to play all 510 minutes for England, with John Stones, John Shaw, and Harry Maguire all playing in the same amount of time.

Jude Bellingham is the only teenager in the top 100. Pedri appeared for 386 minutes during the tournament.

They only have five players in the top 100 because of their heavy rotation in the final game of the group. The most used player was Marquinhos, who played over 500 minutes.

How clubs are affected.

The premier league.

The only other club that had more players last through the World Cup was Spurs. Spurs have two other players who played 350-plus minutes, but they got some rest, so they could look different on Monday.

They will have to do it with the most players to have played 350-plus minutes at the World Cup in order to get back in the game.

They will have a fully rested Erling Haaland ready to start, even though Norway failed to qualify for the finals.

The five players went home early after playing 350-plus minutes. Kevin De Bruyne was back in action against Girona on Saturday as a result of the fact that Belgium were knocked out of the group stage. Stones and Ake are not certain of their starting spots for City.

The backup goalkeepers for the United States and Switzerland were the only two players who played more than 350 minutes. William was with France in the final but only played 40 minutes. Gabriel Jesus could be out for up to three months after sustaining a knee injury.

Manchester United have six players who have played 350-plus minutes and two who are still at the tournament. France's Raphael Varane played more than 100 minutes in the final, so he won't play against Forest on Tuesday.

Silva was one of five players who played a lot. There were two players who were there for the whole seven games.

After Egypt missed the finals and only two members of his squad, Alisson and Van Dijk, played more than 350 minutes, it's better news for the manager that he can look forward to the trip to Villa Park with Mohamed Salah back from a break. Konate played 343 minutes with 12 of them in the final.

Ahead of the restart, what are the status of the teams in the top half of the league? The most active player in the quarterfinals was Trippier, who played over two hours. Eddie Howe will have new players for the restart.

The LaLiga is a Spanish football league.

Barcelona holds a two-point lead over Real Madrid in the race for the Spanish title.

Jules Kounde and Ousmane Dembele made it through the entire 350-plus minute period for Barcelona. There's more of a rest for the clubs in the English league than for the ones in the Spanish league.

Modric and Tchouameni were two of the most active Real Madrid players. While Eduardo Camavinga made it to the final with France, he played just 167 minutes in total. Benzema, who missed the World Cup due to injury, is now fit and focused and has decided to retire from international football. They will be back at Real Valladolid on December 30th.

There is a football league.

The workload on the stars of the two teams was low because of Germany's poor performance. The Bundesliga is not back in action until January 20th.

France defender Dayot Upamecano and Noussair Mazraoui were the most active players, though they will have to manage without Neuer, who broke his leg after the World Cup.

Bellingham played over 500 minutes in getting to the quarterfinals for BVB, but no one from the team made it to the semifinals.

It's called Serie A.

They are the real winners in the league. Only two players made it to the round of 16 and they were both from Poland. The Italian league will be back in January.

With Italy failing to make it to the World Cup there was a reduced impact on its teams. Both AC Milan and Inter had two players, the same as the other teams.

The first division of the French football league, Ligue 1.

We can assume that Paris Saint-Germain will be without some of their stars when they play Strasbourg.

They will have a break. Brazil's most active player was Marquinhos, who made it to the final weekend. After missing most of the group stage due to injury, he returned to play only 293 minutes.