Attention turns to the anticipated Egypt-Argentina Round of 16 match at the 2026 World Cup, where Mohamed Salah meets Lionel Messi in one of the tournament’s major storylines.
Salah and Messi do not have a long record of direct meetings, but their most famous club-level clash came in the 2019 Champions League semi-final between Liverpool and Barcelona.
Salah played against Messi in the first leg, which Barcelona won 3-0, before the Egyptian missed the Anfield comeback through injury as Liverpool went on to reach and win the final.
The Egypt-Argentina meeting has a different flavour because it comes at national-team level and in a knockout round, with huge attention on Salah as Egypt’s leader and Messi as Argentina’s captain.
The match is scheduled for Tuesday, July 7 at Atlanta Stadium, with the winner continuing the journey toward the quarter-finals in a tournament full of knockout drama.