Lionel Messi became the top scorer in FIFA World Cup history after netting his 17th goal of the tournament 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 milestone in the 38th minute, just two days before his 39th birthday. With the strike, Messi scored in his sixth consecutive World Cup game, joining France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho as the only players to achieve the feat.The Argentina captain moved level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals after scoring his first hat-trick of the tournament in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria in their Group J opener last Tuesday in Kansas City.Against Austria, he had an early chance to get in front of Klose, but missed a penalty kick in the ninth minute.Argentina, who won both of their group games, have already secured a place in the knockout stages. Messi has scored all five of Argentina’s goals in the tournament so far, which is his sixth World Cup.His record goal came when Thiago Almada allowed Facundo Medina’s pass to go through to Messi. From about 20 meters out, Messi placed his shot past goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, who headed the wrong way.After scoring, Messi ran to the corner and raised his right arm as the crowd, mostly Argentina fans, celebrated inside the sold-out stadium, which drew 70,649 to the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.The same crowd reacted moments earlier when Messi missed from the penalty spot. His left footed effort went wide of the right post. He has now converted four of the seven penalties taken during regular play in World Cup matches and has missed penalties in three consecutive tournaments.Messi scored the second goal in stoppage time. After his initial attempt was saved by Schlager, he sent the rebound through a crowd of defenders and into the net.Klose scored his 16 World Cup goals in 24 games for Germany. His last World Cup appearance came in Germany’s 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina in the 2014 final.In an interview published on June 12, Klose said he expects Messi to break his record.“I expect my record to drop in this tournament,” Klose told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.“With a bigger field of teams competing there are more games and therefore more opportunities to score goals. And I imagine Argentina and France will go far. That’s fine, the record will be broken eventually anyway and Messi is welcome to be the one to do it. I’m a big fan of Messi, always have been. Messi is a genius.”Messi scored a hat-trick against Algeria in his 200th international appearance and exactly 20 years after his World Cup debut in Germany, where he also scored. Monday’s game was his FIFA-record 28th World Cup appearance.
