Argentina, one of the world's top heavyweights in football, has produced some of the best attacking players in history.
No other country can name two players who dominated their eras like Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona. Brazil had Pele, Portugal has Cristiano Ronaldo.
From Guillermo Stabile, the best scorer in the 1930 World Cup, to the present, Argentina has always boasted a deadly goal threat, even without Messi or Maradona.
However, which of Argentina's skilled goal scorers registered the most goals? And on the World Cup's grandest stage, who has scored the most goals?
Top World Cup scorer for Argentina
Lionel Messi equaled Gabriel Batistuta for the most World Cup goals by an Argentina player with his penalty-kick goal against the Netherlands in the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals, giving him 10.
Argentina's all-time leader in World Cup goals would be Messi if he scored one more goal in the next two games (semifinal and final, or third-place game).
Batistuta scored double digits in 12 games over three competitions (1994, 1998, 2002). He is the only player in World Cup history to score three goals against two different opponents: Greece (1994) and Jamaica (2002 World Cup) (1998).
While Messi went scoreless in 2010, his 10 goals have come in five World Cup competitions (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022) and double Batistuta's matches.
Who is the leading scorer in Argentina history?
It should come as no surprise that Lionel Messi is Argentina's leading scorer given his career-long record of shattering several records.
95 goals have been scored by Messi for his country. The forward might surpass a century of goals if he doesn't retire right after the World Cup.
Due to his relentlessness, the former Barcelona legend dominates the list, dwarfing the accomplishments of several genuinely exceptional players.
While Gabriel Batistuta accumulated his 56 goals at a faster rate than Lionel Messi, 'Batigol' was unable to surpass that number due to a break from the team in 1997 and the fact that he began to lose strength far sooner than the current Argentina captain.
On the list, Sergio Aguero is in third place. In a century of games, the legendary Manchester City player scored 42 goals, most of which came in international friendlies.
Down the decades, Argentina has always had a goal threat, but Messi is the master of them all.