{"id":753789,"date":"2026-06-22T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/753789\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T22:44:10","slug":"it-feels-special-lionel-messi-becomes-world-cup-all-time-leading-scorer-lionel-messi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/753789\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It feels special\u2019: Lionel Messi becomes World Cup all-time leading scorer | Lionel Messi"},"content":{"rendered":"

An exhausted Lionel Messi savoured the \u201cspecial\u201d feeling of becoming the World Cup\u2019s all-time record goalscorer after his double gave Argentina a 2-0 victory over Austria<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Messi broke Germany striker Miroslav Klose\u2019s record, set in 2014, by scoring his 17th goal on this stage seven minutes before half-time, adding another with the final action of the match. He had earlier missed a penalty and admitted his matchwinning contributions were necessary to wash away the taste of that aberration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels special, but like I\u2019ve always said it does,\u201d he said. \u201cLike I\u2019ve said other times, I enjoy playing, having a good time on the pitch. I wasn\u2019t necessarily having one on the \u00adpenalty, but with luck we were able to work through that situation, take the advantage and leave with three points.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never one to overenthuse, Messi cut a restrained figure and opted not to bite when asked about his favourite of the 18 World Cup<\/a> goals. \u201cI can\u2019t recall right now, I\u2019m tired, low on energy, and finding it hard to think,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n

After consecutive wins in Group J, Argentina\u2019s place in the last 32 is now guaranteed. \u201cWe knew it was going to be a game with a lot of intensity and we knew we wouldn\u2019t be able to let our guard down,\u201d Messi said. \u201cBut yes, I\u2019m happy. It\u2019s important to us also to get the six points to have a little bit of a calmer week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lionel Messi scores his 17th World Cup goal to overtake Miroslav Klose\u2019s record. Photograph: Hannah McKay\/Reuters<\/p>\n

The Argentina head coach, Lionel Scaloni, admitted Messi\u2019s continued heroics have left him bereft of descriptive power. \u201cI have no words to talk about Leo, it makes us all a bit tired,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m so happy with his performance. He scored again. The team suffered and at times we created difficulties today. When Leo becomes active everyone activates.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the team was having a tough time without possession of the ball he worked, he managed to steal the ball, you could see his level of commitment and there is a reason for that. He has commitment, this is what he\u00a0generates.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Juli\u00e1n Alvarez, who was heavily involved in the late move from which Messi scored his second goal, was among others to pay tribute. \u201cAt his age, he continues to show his talent and all his magic,\u201d the Atl\u00e9tico Madrid forward said. \u201cThere isn\u2019t much to say. We all see it, he\u2019s the best in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Austria head coach, Ralf Rangnick, also lauded Messi but felt Alexis Mac Allister had fouled Xaver Schlader in the buildup to Messi\u2019s first goal. \u201cWe know Messi is on a level of his own and he showed today that he is the greatest,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my opinion there was a foul, but the VAR was not brave enough to tell the referee about the foul committed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An exhausted Lionel Messi savoured the \u201cspecial\u201d feeling of becoming the World Cup\u2019s all-time record goalscorer after his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-753789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}