Messi Becomes World Cup's All-Time Top Scorer With Austria Double
Two goals in Dallas carried Messi past Miroslav Klose to the top of the men's World Cup scoring chart, with all five of Argentina's goals this tournament his own.
Eighteen. That is the number now sitting at the very top of the men's World Cup scoring chart, and it belongs to Lionel Messi.
Argentina's captain scored twice in a 2-0 win over Austria in Dallas on Monday, moving past Germany's Miroslav Klose to become the all-time leading goalscorer in men's World Cup history. He reached 17 to break the tie, added an 18th before the night was done, and has now scored every one of Argentina's five goals at the 2026 tournament.
It almost began with an anticlimax. Argentina won an early penalty for a foul on Lautaro Martinez, and Messi, with the record sitting right in front of him, slid the kick wide of the right post. It was his first missed World Cup penalty since he failed to convert against Poland in the 2022 group stage.
The 38-year-old did not stew on it for long. In the 38th minute he met a cutback and rolled a first-time left-footed shot past goalkeeper Alexander Schlager. The second came in the closing minutes, Messi threading the ball home through a thicket of Austrian defenders after Julian Alvarez's effort was blocked.
Klose assembled his 16 across four tournaments between 2002 and 2014. Brazil's Ronaldo sits third on 15, with Gerd Muller and France's Kylian Mbappe level on 14. What sets Messi apart is the span: his first World Cup goal came in 2006 against Serbia and Montenegro, when he was 18, and Monday's game was part of a sixth tournament no man had reached before. His hat-trick in last week's 3-0 win over Algeria also marked his 200th appearance for Argentina.
He has been typically unsentimental about the milestone.
"It's an honor being up there for what it means, being alongside Klose and Ronaldo, who is there also. But it doesn't mean anything. Mbappe is there, too. At the end of the day, they are stats and nothing more."
Lionel Messi, speaking after the Algeria match
His teammates were less restrained. "If anyone thought this group was better off without Leo, today it became clear that Leo is the most important of them all," midfielder Alexis Mac Allister said after the opener.
The record might not be his for long. Mbappe is 27, already on 14, and quite capable of hunting Messi down inside this tournament, let alone by 2030. For now the line at the top reads Messi, and a defending champion that looked shaky a fortnight ago suddenly resembles itself again. Elsewhere in the group stage the newcomers have written their own lines, from Curacao's first World Cup point to Lamine Yamal's breakthrough for Spain. None of it knocked Messi off the front page.
