“Lionel Messi finally notched his first goal in a World Cup knockout game on Saturday,” writes Andy Bailey. “This made me wonder: who has scored the most in knockout matches?”
This isn’t the easiest question to answer because of the different ways the World Cup has been structured over the years. In 1934 and 1938, there were nothing but knockout games (albeit with only 16 teams). In 1950, and then from 1974-82, there was a second group stage which replaced some of the knockout rounds. For example, in 1982, Paolo Rossi scored a hat-trick in Italy’s legendary 3-2 win over Brazil – a de facto quarter-final, but not technically a knockout game.
