Lionel Messi became the highest goalscorer in FIFA World Cup history after scoring his 17th tournament goal in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria on Monday. The Argentina captain later added another goal in stoppage time to take his tally to 18.Messi reached the landmark in the 38th minute, just two days before his 39th birthday. With the strike, Messi scored in his sixth straight World Cup match, joining France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho as the only players to achieve that feat.The Argentina captain had drawn level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals after scoring his first tournament hat-trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria in their opening Group J match last Tuesday in Kansas City.He had an early chance to move ahead of Klose against Austria but missed a penalty in the ninth minute.Argentina, who have won both their group matches, have already secured a place in the knockout stage. Messi has scored all five of Argentina’s goals in the tournament so far, which is his sixth World Cup.His record-breaking goal came when Thiago Almada allowed Facundo Medina’s pass to run through to Messi. From around 20 yards out, Messi placed his shot past goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, who had moved the wrong way.After scoring, Messi ran towards the corner and raised his right arm as the largely Argentina-supporting crowd celebrated inside the sold-out stadium, which drew 70,649 spectators at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.The same crowd had reacted moments earlier when Messi missed from the penalty spot. His left-footed effort went just wide of the right post. He has now converted four of seven penalty kicks taken during regular play in World Cup matches and has missed penalties in three successive tournaments.Messi’s second goal came in stoppage time. After his initial effort was saved by Schlager, he sent the rebound through a crowd of defenders and into the net.Klose scored his 16 World Cup goals across 24 matches for Germany. His final World Cup appearance came in Germany’s 1-0 extra-time victory over Argentina in the 2014 final.In an interview published on June 12, Klose said he expected Messi to break his record.“I expect my record to fall in this tournament,” Klose told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.“With the larger field of competing teams there are more games and so more chances to score goals. And I assume Argentina and France will go far. That’s perfectly OK, the record will be broken eventually anyhow and Messi is welcome to be the one who does it. I’m a big fan of Messi, always have been. Messi is a genius.”Messi’s hat-trick against Algeria came in his 200th international appearance and exactly 20 years after his World Cup debut in Germany, where he also scored. Monday’s match was his FIFA-record 28th World Cup appearance.
