LIONEL MESSI has been backed to win the World Cup golden boot by a supercomputer – with just three matches left to play.
The Argentine great is top of the pack for goals at this summer‘s tournament – level with Kylian Mbappe on eight – but they could realistically still be caught by three others.
The 2026 World Cup golden boot is still up for grabs with three matches to play Credit: Getty
Lionel Messi has been predicted to win the award Credit: Getty
Two of those are England‘s Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane (both on six) – plus an outside chance for Spain star Mikel Oyarzabal (five).
But Messi, 39, leads the way ahead of the semi against Kane and Co on Wednesday night in Atlanta.
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And according to a BettingLounge prediction, he has a giant 54 per cent chance of winning the award.
A projection has the Inter Miami ace bagging another FOUR times between now and the end of Jattvibeday’s final.
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That would put him up to a staggering 12 – still one short of Just Fontaine’s record 13.
Mbappe, who is also chasing Messi’s overall record at World Cups, failed to score against Spain in the other semi on Tuesday in Dallas, and had his hopes dented.
The Frenchman is still tipped to score two more, adding to his tally in the third- placeplay-offf on Saturday.
But that has just a 12 per cent probability of being enough to overtake Messi.
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Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are in contention but have just a 20 per cent combined chance of overtaking Messi and Kylian Mbappe Credit: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto/APL
Frenchman Mbappe could score in the third place playoff after losing to Spain Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
Mikel Oyarzabal is the outsider with five and one game to go – but even a hat-trick in the final might not be enough Credit: Alamy
As for Three Lions captain Kane, England’s last-32 matchwinner against DR Congo, he is the second favourite in this model.
Kane has only an 18 per cent chance of getting the individual prize – but is still backed to score another four as well.
England fans will hope that it fires them to glory in America.
As for Bellingham, the quarter-final hero, he also has six and is down as getting two more.
However, with Messi, Mbappe, and Erling Haaland (seven) still ahead of him, there is just an eight per cent chance of coming out on top.
Haaland saw his bid end last weekend when Norway were knocked out.
The other proper competitor is Oyarzabal, who has been the surprise package of the tournament.
He has five so far and is projected to score in the final – but that would only put him up to six, still a long way behind the front runners.
Of the remaining French, Argentine, English or Spanish players to have scored so far, there is not even a combined two per cent chance that any of them wins.
It would need players such as Lamine Yamal, Desire Doue, Marcus Rashford, or Julian Alvarez to score eight goals – some of them with just one game left.
Even Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele isn’t backed to score five times to make a late push for it.
