Argentina vs. Egypt: Lionel Messi and Mo Salah head-to-head before World Cup Last 16

Lionel Messi and Mohamed Salah are set to share a pitch for the first time at international level when Argentina face Egypt in the World Cup 2026 Round of 16 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Tuesday. 

It is a mouth-watering individual duel between two players who could both be featuring at their final World Cup, but remarkably, this will only be the third time the pair have gone head-to-head in their careers, with both previous meetings coming almost a decade apart in the Champions League. 

Football Whispers breaks down the stats and results from those two prior encounters below, along with how both players' current World Cup form compares heading into Tuesday's clash.

Lionel Messi and Mo Salah head-to-head: Team results

Messi and Salah have shared the pitch twice at club level, and the Argentine captain has never lost to the Egyptian talisman. 

The first meeting came on September 16, 2015, when Salah's Roma held Messi's Barcelona to a 1-1 draw at the Stadio Olimpico in the Champions League group stage, with Luis Suarez's opener cancelled out by an Alessandro Florenzi wonder-strike. 

The second meeting was more one-sided, as Messi's Barcelona beat Salah's Liverpool 3-0 in the first leg of the 2019 Champions League semi-final at the Camp Nou, a result that looked to have ended the tie before the return leg. However, the Reds famously overturned it 4-0 at Anfield, though Salah missed that game through injury.

Lionel Messi and Mo Salah head-to-head: Individual goal involvement – Messi 2, Salah 0

Despite starting and playing the full 90 minutes in both matches, Salah is yet to register a goal or an assist against a Messi side. 

Salah endured a frustrating night in Barcelona back in 2019, even missing a clear chance. With six minutes remaining, he was played through for a close-range tap-in and could only strike the post, an opportunity that could have given Liverpool a crucial away goal.

It was a similar story in 2015 when he was one of Roma's most effective counter-attack outlets. However, he ultimately could not find a breakthrough against a Barcelona defence expertly marshalled by Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano.

Messi, by contrast, has scored in one of the two meetings, netting a second-half brace in the 2019 semi-final, with the second being a stunning 25-yard free-kick that brought up his 600th goal for Barcelona. 

He drew a blank in the 2015 draw, though he did strike the crossbar late on with the goalkeeper beaten.

Lionel Messi and Mo Salah head-to-head: World Cup 2026 

Messi arrives in Atlanta as the tournament's joint top scorer with seven goals, having broken the World Cup's all-time scoring record with a brace against Austria in the group stage. 

The Inter Miami forward has scored in six of Argentina's seven games in this tournament, and he will be looking to extend this record.

Salah's tournament has been tilted towards creativity, creating more chances (16) than anyone else at the World Cup by the end of the Round of 32, level with Belgium's Leandro Trossard.

However, he did find the net in Egypt's 3-1 group stage victory over New Zealand, and that has been his only goal so far in the 2026 World Cup.