Messi misses a penalty, then breaks the record: 18 World Cup goals, the most of any player

A missed penalty, then the goal that did it

The chance came early, and Messi missed it. A penalty in the opening stages would have handed him the all-time men's record straight away; instead he sent it wide, and the record stayed out of reach for a little longer. Then, in the 39th minute, he scored from open play to put Argentina 1-0 up — his 17th World Cup goal, one clear of Klose. He added a second in stoppage time for 2-0, taking the tally to 18. The defending champions had also secured their place in the knockout rounds.

16, then 17, then past 17 as well

Klose had set the men's mark at 16 across four tournaments from 2002 to 2014. Messi had drawn level only six days earlier, with a hat trick — his first at a World Cup — in Argentina's 3-0 opening win over Algeria. It was his 11th hat trick for Argentina, but the first of his career at a World Cup. The double against Austria moved him clear, and to 18 he also passed Marta's 17 for Brazil, the most at a women's World Cup, leaving him as the leading scorer in World Cup history regardless of competition. Klose's 16 had stood as the men's record since he reached it in 2014 — twelve years untouched.

The span behind the number is its own story. Messi scored his first World Cup goal on June 16, 2006, against Serbia and Montenegro, at 18. Twenty years on he is the first player to appear at six different men's World Cups, and he has scored in six consecutive World Cup matches dating back to 2022. The goals took him to 120 for Argentina, behind only Cristiano Ronaldo's 143 in men's international football.

Mbappé, next in line, on the man ahead of him

The player closest to that record is Kylian Mbappé, who has called Messi "the best in the world." The pair were teammates at Paris Saint-Germain, and it was Messi's Argentina who beat Mbappé's France on penalties in the 2022 final.

"I already knew Messi was going to keep scoring goals," Mbappé, 27, said. "He always does. He's ahead of me and I'm behind him. I'll keep scoring to help my national team go as far as possible." France's captain, who reached 100 caps on Monday against Iraq, remains the most realistic active challenger — but he is still some way back.

39 tomorrow, and still scoring

Messi turns 39 on Tuesday, the day after the record, and has spoken of this as his last World Cup. He played down the milestone when he first equalled Klose against Algeria, calling the numbers "stats and nothing more." Argentina finished their first two Group J games with two wins; their knockout opponent is still to be decided. Whether anyone reaches Messi's number is an open question. For now the record belongs to a 38-year-old who is still adding to it, with one group game left to play.