Messi becomes World Cup top scorer with Austria brace
Lionel Messi scored a brace to lead Argentina to a 2-0 win over Austria to become the World Cup’s all-time record goalscorer on Monday.
He scored his 17th and 18th goals in the tournament’s history to move two goals clear of Miroslav Klose in the pecking order.
Fresh from scoring a hat-trick in Argentina’s first match against Algeria, Messi further established his importance to the team with another match-winning performance at the Dallas Stadium.
The defending champions enjoyed an impressive start to the encounter but Messi missed from the penalty spot in the eighth minute after Stefan Posch’s foul on Lautaro Martinez.
He made amends 30 minutes later with a stunning goal from outside the box to give Argentina a 1-0 lead.
Messi put the icing on the cake in the 95th minute with a precise finish to wrap up the points for Argentina, which was enough to book their place in the second round of the tournament.
He is now the top scorer in the tournament with five goals from two matches, while he has also scored 18 goals overall in the history of the mundial.
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Argentina will complete their first round assignment against Jordan on Sunday while Austria will take on Algeria on the same day.
Top Stats From Argentina vs Austria
6 – Lionel Messi is the third player to score in six successive appearances at the FIFA World Cup after Just Fontaine in 1958 and Jairzinho in 1970.
Argentina have now scored exactly 50 goals at the #FIFAWorldCup since Lionel Messi made his debut at the tournament.
That means Lionel Messi has now been involved in 52% (26/50) of all of Argentina’s World Cup goals in his era.
Lionel Messi has scored 10 goals in his last six World Cup games.
18 – Lionel Messi has now scored the most goals in FIFA World Cup history.
18 – Lionel Messi 🇦🇷
16 – Miroslav Klose 🇩🇪
15 – Ronaldo 🇧🇷
14 – Kylian Mbappé 🇫🇷
14 – Gerd Müller 🇩🇪
13 – Just Fontaine 🇫🇷
12 – Pelé 🇧🇷
