Messi’s brace fires Argentina past Austria as he becomes the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history.
Lionel Messi once again carved his name into football history as his brace guided Argentina to victory over Austria in their Group J clash at the FIFA World Cup. The win strengthened Argentina’s grip on the group and saw the veteran forward become the most prolific goalscorer in men’s World Cup history.
Argentina dominated large spells of the encounter, controlling possession with 62% compared to Austria’s 38%, while also registering 14 shots to Austria’s 6. The South American side were far more clinical, forcing the Austrian defence into sustained pressure, as Austria struggled to build meaningful attacks or test the goalkeeper consistently throughout the match.
Argentina got an opportunity to take the lead in the 6th minute after they were awarded a penalty. The penalty was orchestrated during a swift attack by Argentina in the 5th minute, which ended with Lautaro Martínez getting brought down by a dual challenge from Austrian goalkeeper, Alexander Schlager and defender Stefan Posch. The penalty was to be taken by Lionel Messi.
Following the drama of the VAR review, Lionel Messi shockingly missed the penalty. Pulling his 9th-minute attempt completely wide of the right post. Despite Austrian goalkeeper Alexander Schlager diving the wrong way, Messi missed the target entirely, leaving the match temporarily deadlocked at 0-0.
The miss makes him the first player in football history to miss 3 regulation-time penalties at the FIFA World Cup. His previous World Cup tournament misses occurred against Iceland in 2018 and Poland in 2022.
Lionel Messi made up with a goal in the 38th minute, after receiving a low cutback from Facundo Medina into the center of the penalty area to his path, who calmly slotted it into the back of the net. He has now broken the record for the most career goals scored in men’s FIFA World Cup history.
By scoring against Austria, he reached 18 career World Cup goals, officially surpassing Germany’s Miroslav Klose, who held the previous record of 16 goals. This historic strike also tied him with Brazilian legend Marta for the absolute most goals scored across both the men’s and women’s tournaments.
Austria, on the other hand is struggling to build any momentum because Argentina’s dominant midfield is completely starving them of the ball. This lack of possession has isolated Austria’s forwards and prevented them from creating a single dangerous shot on target. Forced to spend most of the match defending.
Messi doubles the lead in the 95th minute, getting a brace and sealing the win for Argentina.
The victory puts Argentina on the brink of the knockout stages with a perfect six points from two matches, while Austria’s hopes of progressing remain in the balance ahead of their final Group J fixture against Algeria.
