Messi scores twice against Austria to break Miroslav Klose’s World Cup scoring record<\/p>\n
Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrates scoring their second goal with Leandro Paredes. Photo: Reuters <\/p>\n
Lionel Messi added to his legacy Monday afternoon by scoring his record-breaking 17th career World Cup goal in the first half before adding his 18th in second-half stoppage time of Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria in Arlington, Texas.<\/p>\n
The 17th goal broke a tie with \u200cGermany’s Miroslav Klose. The 18th puts him four in front of France’s Kylian Mbappe, the next-closest active player, whose side plays later Monday against Iraq.<\/p>\n
“Well, I’m very happy \u200cbecause of this victory,” Messi said \u2060immediately after the match through an interpreter. “This was a very important and tough victory. We worked very hard on it. \u200cAnd that reassures us for what’s coming next.<\/p>\n
“So this is a World Cup. All of the matches are very intense, and all of the teams play well. And we’re happy because we have six points and we’re qualified.”<\/p>\n
Messi, who turns \u206039 on Wednesday, has scored 11 of his historic total of 18 goals since turning 35. \u200cHis total from the last two World Cups alone would be tied for seventh on the tournament’s all-time scoring list.<\/p>\n
Messi scored his record-setting goal on a first-touch left-footed strike from just inside the 18-yard box in the 38th \u2060minute off an assist from Facundo Medina.<\/p>\n
He completed his brace five \u2060minutes into added time, cleaning up his \u200cown rebound following a surging counterattack and firing low through traffic. That gave him a two-goal lead over Canada’s Jonathan David and Germany’s Deniz Undav in the 2026 World Cup Golden Boot race.<\/p>\n
Asked for his favorite World Cup goal of his career, Messi could not pinpoint one.<\/p>\n
“I don’t remember, really,” he said. “I’m tired. I don’t have a lot of strength, and it’s hard to think for me right now. So I’m just enjoying this moment \u2060, and I want to join my colleagues.”<\/p>\n
Messi, who became one of the first two players to appear in six World \u2060Cups last week alongside Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo, entered this summer’s event three goals behind Klose. Behind his first career World Cup hat trick in the Group J opener vs. Algeria on June 16, he pulled even entering the second group-stage match.<\/p>\n
With the goal, Messi also tied a different World Cup record, scoring in his sixth straight match dating back to the 2022 World Cup, which Argentina won. He’s just the third player to score in six straight World Cup matches, alongside France’s Just \u2060Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho.<\/p>\n
He appeared destined to break the record approximately 30 minutes earlier when Lautaro Martinez was tackled in the box, and Argentina was awarded a penalty kick. However, Messi missed the ensuing penalty kick wide of the right post in the ninth minute.<\/p>\n
“I had the penalty that I could have scored,” Messi said. “Well, maybe had I done that, I wouldn’t have scored the others. You never know. But \u200cI’m happy about the results because of our participation and the teamwork. Well, let’s hope it will even go better.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Messi scores twice against Austria to break Miroslav Klose’s World Cup scoring record Argentina’s Lionel Messi celebrates scoring their second goal with Leandro Paredes. Photo: Reuters Lionel Messi added to his legacy Monday afternoon by scoring his record-breaking 17th career World Cup goal in the first half before adding his 18th in second-half stoppage time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":109997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.tribune.com.pk\/media\/images\/messi1782157998-0\/messi1782157998-0-640x480.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t