Lionel Messi etched his name further into football immortality on Monday as a clinical brace against Austria at Dallas Stadium sealed Argentina’s place in the Round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while simultaneously breaking the all-time World Cup goalscoring record previously held by Germany’s Miroslav Klose.

The defending champions arrived in Dallas having already drawn level with Klose’s record of 16 goals after Messi’s sensational hat-trick against Algeria in Argentina’s tournament opener on June 16. Needing just one more to stand alone at the summit of football’s greatest individual goalscoring record, Messi was handed an early opportunity in the ninth minute when VAR awarded Argentina a penalty. However, in a rare moment of fallibility, he dragged the spot-kick wide, a moment that visibly energised Ralf Rangnick’s Austria and silenced the heavily Argentinian crowd momentarily.

The record-breaking moment eventually arrived in the 38th minute. Facundo Medina cut in from the left and whipped a precise cross into the box, where Thiago Almada allowed the pass to run through his legs to present Messi with a clean strike on the edge of the area.

The Inter Miami captain swept it into the near bottom corner with his trusted left foot, becoming the outright leading scorer in World Cup history with his 17th goal across six tournament appearances. The celebrations inside Dallas Stadium were thunderous. Messi completed his brace deep into second-half stoppage time, latching onto a rebound after Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager had parried his initial attempt, to take his World Cup tally to a staggering 18 goals. It also made him only the third player in history to score in six consecutive World Cup games, joining France’s Just Fontaine from 1958 and Brazil’s Jairzinho from 1970.

The 2-0 victory means Argentina, who turned in a defensively disciplined performance to limit Austria to a single shot on target, have now qualified for the knockout stages with a game to spare. They face Jordan in their final Group J fixture on June 28, where Messi will have yet another opportunity to extend his lead at the top of the all-time charts.

Kylian Mbappé, who currently sits on 14 World Cup goals, remains the closest active player to Messi’s new benchmark, though the gap has never looked wider.

Remarkably, Klose had predicted this outcome. Speaking to Sport Bild in January 2026, the German legend acknowledged that his record would fall at this tournament. “I’m sure my goal-scoring record at the World Cup will be broken soon,” he said. “Either Lionel Messi will achieve it at this World Cup, or at the latest Kylian Mbappé will do it at the next one.”