Lionel Messi finally has the World Cup scoring record all to himself — and he did it after missing the chance to get there from the penalty spot.
The Argentina icon became the all-time leading scorer in men’s World Cup history Monday, scoring in the 38th minute against Austria in Dallas for his 17th career tournament goal.
Messi had already missed a penalty earlier in the game, delaying the historic moment as Argentina looked for a breakthrough.
But the wait did not last long.
Facundo Medina played the ball into the box before Thiago Almada cleverly dummied it, allowing it to roll through his legs and into Messi’s path.
Messi arrived at pace and connected perfectly with his left foot, driving his shot into the left side of the goal to give the goalkeeper no chance and put Argentina 1-0 up.
The goal was Messi’s fourth of the tournament after his hat trick against Algeria in Argentina’s 3-0 win to open its World Cup campaign.
It also moved him past Germany great Miroslav Klose, who had held the men’s World Cup scoring record with 16 goals.
Messi entered the match level with Klose after his opening-game hat trick, meaning his next goal would give him the record outright.
After failing to take the record from the spot earlier in the match, Messi made no mistake when the next chance arrived before halftime.
The moment was met by a huge roar from the Argentina-heavy crowd, with Messi mobbed by his teammates after scoring the landmark goal.
For years, Messi’s international legacy was judged against the World Cup.
Now, after leading Argentina to the 2022 title in Qatar and continuing his record-breaking run four years later, he owns one of the tournament’s most significant individual marks.
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Klose set the previous record during Germany’s run to the 2014 World Cup title, moving past Brazil legend Ronaldo in the process.
12 years later, Messi has claimed the mark for himself.
Argentina went into the Austria match looking to take control of Group J after opening the tournament with a win over Algeria.
Messi’s latest goal gave the defending champions a first-half lead — and wrote himself into World Cup history.
