Messi Breaks the World Cup Scoring Record as Argentina Beat Austria 2-0

It is hard to think of a more Messi way to break the most coveted scoring record in the game. He had already missed a penalty, the kind he has tucked away in his sleep for two decades, and for half an hour at Dallas Stadium it looked as though Austria might make him pay for it. Then Facundo Medina pulled the ball back, Messi arrived late into the box exactly as he always has, and he passed it low into the net. That goal, his 17th at a World Cup, moved him clear of Miroslav Klose as the leading scorer in the tournament's history. A stoppage-time second made the 2-0 win safe and took him to 18. Argentina, the holders, are through to the knockout stages with a game to spare.

The penalty was the early drama. On nine minutes VAR intervened to award Argentina a spot-kick for a foul on Lautaro Martinez, and the responsibility, as it always does, fell to the captain. Messi put it wide of the post. It was a rare miss on a grand stage, and in front of 70,649 supporters it briefly handed Austria a foothold they had not earned. Ralf Rangnick's side, beaten finalists of nobody's prediction but combative throughout, sensed there was a game to be had.

Austria Make Him Work for It

This was not the open afternoon Messi enjoyed against Algeria, when he helped himself to a first World Cup hat-trick. Rangnick's Austria pressed in numbers and packed the spaces where Argentina's captain likes to receive. There were spells when five white shirts surrounded him the instant the ball arrived at his feet. Marcel Sabitzer threatened on 23 minutes, his effort blocked by Cristian Romero, and for a while the Austrians looked the likelier of the two sides to find a second meaningful moment.

The trouble with crowding Messi, of course, is that it leaves room somewhere else, and he has spent a career finding it. A first-time pass here, a wriggle clear there, and the picture kept opening up. On 38 minutes the work paid off. Medina broke down the left and clipped a low cross into the area, Messi timed his run to meet it, and the finish was the unfussy, near-post kind that has defined his whole vocabulary. It was the goal that put him outright top of the list, and it was, fittingly, scored rather than dispatched from twelve yards.

The Record, and the Player Who Holds It

Messi's first goal was his 17th at a World Cup, one more than Klose, who had stood alone on 16 for years. The stoppage-time second, forced over the line at the second attempt deep into added time, made it 18 and pushed the record a little further out of reach. It also took his tally to five in just two Group J fixtures, after the hat-trick against Algeria. He has now scored in six consecutive World Cup matches, the first man to do so in more than half a century, and he managed it shorn of the pace that once made it look routine.

That is the part worth sitting with. About to turn 39, no longer able to run past people the way he could, Messi has not so much declined as adapted, and the team around him has been built to make the adaptation work. Four of his 18 World Cup goals have come from penalties, which makes it somehow appropriate that the record-breaking one did not. There was a worrying moment on 57 minutes when Romero went down with a knee injury and was replaced by Nicolas Otamendi, a reminder that Argentina's defensive depth will be tested before this is over, but it did not change the direction of the night.

Verdict: A Test Passed, History Made

"Beyond anything, I'm so happy for the win," Messi said afterwards. "It was huge, tough and difficult. It allows us to be relaxed for what's ahead. All matches in this World Cup are very even, very intense." He did not hide from the early miss either. "There were moments when I was really angry about missing the penalty, but I was able to make up for it." It was an honest summary of a performance that was not even his best of the tournament and could still have brought him five goals.

Austria, who had beaten Jordan in their opening match, were physical and disciplined and will still fancy their chances of progressing despite the defeat. Algeria's later win over Jordan confirmed Argentina as Group J winners, with the holders set to face the Group H runners-up, currently Uruguay, in the round of 32 on July 3. A final group game against Jordan should give Messi the chance to add to his total, and few would bet against it. The record is his now. The only open question, as it has been for a while, is how much higher he intends to set it before the curtain falls.

Sources: Match report, scoring sequence, key moments, attendance and post-match quotes from Lionel Messi, along with the statistical and historical context around Messi passing Miroslav Klose as the World Cup's all-time leading scorer, as reported in Sky Sports' coverage of Argentina 2-0 Austria at the World Cup.