17, then 18: Lionel Messi nets from 20 yards to set record for most goals in World Cup history – Watch

Lionel Messi became the top scorer in World Cup history after scoring 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. The strike saw Messi score in his sixth consecutive World Cup match, joining France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho as the only players to do so.The Argentina captain drew level with Germany’s Miroslav Klos 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 in Kansas City last Tuesday.Against Austria, he had an early chance to go ahead of Klose, but he missed the penalty in the ninth minute.Having won both of their group games, Argentina have already secured their place in the knockout stages. Messi has scored all five of Argentina’s goals so far in the tournament, his sixth World Cup.His record goal came when Thiago Almada allowed Facundo Medina’s pass to go through to Messi. From around 20 yards out, Messi placed his shot past goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, who was moving badly.After scoring, Messi ran to the corner and raised his right arm as the mostly Argentina-supporting crowd celebrated in a sold-out stadium that drew 70,649 at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.The same crowd responded moments earlier when Messi missed from the penalty spot. His left footed effort went just wide of the right post. In World Cup matches, he has now converted four of the seven penalty kicks taken during regular play and has not converted a penalty in three consecutive tournaments.Messi’s second goal came in stoppage time. After his initial effort was saved by Sláger, he sent the rebound over a cluster of defenders and into the net.Klose scored his 16 World Cup goals in 24 appearances for Germany. His last World Cup appearance came in 2014, when Germany won 1-0 in extra time over Argentina in the final.In an interview published on 12 June, 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 a bigger field of competing teams, there are more games and therefore more chances to score goals. And I expect Argentina and France to go far. That’s perfectly fine, the record will eventually be broken anyway and Messi is welcome when he 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 record 28th FIFA World Cup appearance.