Lionel Messi cements GOAT status with new World Cup record - but how long will it last?

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Tom Weber | Writer

Multilingual sports writer who specialises in European football and American soccer.

Argentina and Inter Miami legend Lionel Messi has become the World Cup's all-time record goalscorer after finding the back of the net against Austria on Monday.

The Albiceleste captain, who turns 39 on Wednesday, opened the scoring in the 38th minute against a physical Austrian side after earlier squandering a penalty with an uncharacteristically poor effort. Incredibly, he has missed three of the seven World Cup non-shootout penalties he has taken.

He made up for it, though, and eventually bagged his brace in second-half stoppage time. After beating Algeria last week, Argentina have made it two wins from two and qualified for the knockout stages.

Messi is already on a whopping five goals this tournament after scoring a hat-trick against Algeria, which saw him pull level with Germany icon Miroslav Klose at the top of the men's World Cup all-time goalscoring charts on 16 (Brazil legend Marta has 17).

Thanks to his two goals against Austria, Messi, who is also the World Cup's record appearance maker, is now two clear of Klose with 18 goals in 28 games.

Messi's record could be broken - today

The debates on the greatest player of all time can be put to bed now, surely. There is simply no one like Messi.

Take this utterly absurd statistic, for example: His goals today were his first on 22 June. There are now just 78 days left in the calendar on which Messi has not scored a competitive goal.

Being the all-time record goalscorer in World Cup history has cemented his GOAT status. And yet, this prestigious record could conceivably be broken as early as today.

That's because Kylian Mbappe - who is only in his third World Cup (as opposed to Messi's sixth) - is still within touching distance of the Argentine even after his two goals today.

Mbappe netted a brace against Senegal last week, which were his 13th and 14th World Cup goals. The France captain is currently four behind Messi and is set to face Iraq shortly.

The Lions of Mesopotamia gave a good account of themselves against Norway in their opener, but they still ended up conceding four goals. If Mbappe keeps scoring at his current rate, he will likely catch Messi eventually, if not today, then in the future.

The 27-year-old, who is one of just two players (alongside England's Geoff Hurst) to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final, has netted his 14 goals in just 15 games - and he's coming off a season in which he bagged 42 goals in 44 matches for Real Madrid.

The next closest active player to Messi and Mbappe is England captain Harry Kane, who is currently on 10 goals in 12 World Cup appearances. Brazil star Neymar and Portugal icon Cristiano Ronaldo are both on eight strikes.