ARLINGTON (Kashmir English): Argentina recorded a 2-0 win over Austria in their FIFA World Cup 2026 Group J encounter and booked a spot in the knockout stages.
It was important for Messi, who was on par with German star Miroslav Klose on the all-time World Cup scorers’ chart prior to this match, to prove his credentials against Austria.
He did just that, as, despite failing to convert an early penalty chance, he bounced back to register his opening goal in the 38th minute to set a new record.
Austria fought hard in defense and tried to unsettle the reigning world champions, but Argentina held sway during most of the game.
Messi completed his brace and gave Argentina the winning goal in injury time, helping him to score 18 World Cup goals and set a new record by topping the all-time goalscoring table in the tournament.
This result made Argentina top the table in Group J and helped them make it through to the Round of 32, whereas Austria will try to prolong their World Cup hopes in the upcoming matches.
Messi becomes FIFA World Cup’s all-time top scorer
Argentina captain Lionel Messi added another remarkable achievement to his legendary career on Monday, becoming the outright leading scorer in FIFA World Cup history.
The 39-year-old became the most successful goalscorer of all time when he netted in Argentina’s Group L clash against Austria. It was Messi’s 17th FIFA World Cup goal that surpassed Klose’s record of 16 goals for Germany.
Last week, Messi matched Klose’s record after scoring a hat-trick in Argentina’s win over Algeria, but he managed to surpass him with another goal and currently finds himself atop of the list of all-time World Cup scorers.
This was after Messi had missed an opportunity to achieve the feat when he missed a penalty kick. The Argentine team was given a penalty kick via the video assistant referee after the player was fouled in the box.
The Argentine player got an opportunity to take the penalty, but unfortunately for him, he missed his shot on target, hitting the outside of the right post.
However, his hopes of scoring the milestone goal would be realized just minutes later in the 38th minute when he finally scored a goal.
