Argentina advanced to the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Australia on Saturday, with Messi scoring the ninth goal of his World Cup career to give Lionel Scaloni's team a 1-0 lead in the first half.
With those two goals, Messi moved up to 23 World Cup appearances this tournament, two more than the previous national team record held by his late compatriot and fellow number 10 shirt wearer Maradona, who finished his career with eight goals.
Messi is just one behind Gabriel Batistuta's record of 10 World Cup goals with Argentina, and he may have that in the back of his mind ahead of Friday's last-eight clash with the Netherlands.
The Paris Saint-Germain forward is picking off records as he goes during this tournament, and he will surely overtake two more Maradona marks in that clash with Louis van Gaal's team.
That is because Messi and Maradona are now exactly level when it comes to chances created and open play chances created at the World Cup.
They have both created 67 chances, and with each man, 48 of those chances have come about in open play, Opta data shows.
Messi created four chances in all against Australia, including a golden opportunity for Lautaro Martinez that the substitute ballooned wastefully late in the game as Argentina looked to put the game beyond their gallant opponents.
Where Maradona beats Messi is in goal assists. Maradona's eight from 1982 to 1994 beats Messi's haul of six assists to date, since his World Cup debut at the 2006 finals.
Maradona was the driving force behind Argentina's 1986 World Cup triumph in Mexico, and later coached the national team, notably at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
He died in November 2020 at the age of 60.
Saturday's game against Australia was the 1,000th of Messi's career for club and country.