Lionel Messi’s Messi Career Goals count reached 17 at the World Cup after he scored twice and moved past Miroslav Klose to stand alone at the top. The 38-year-old did it after missing a penalty, turning a difficult stretch into the record he had been chasing for years.
Messi’s first goal came in the 38th minute, from just outside the box. His second arrived with one minute left in second-half stoppage time, after he played a perfect ball across to Julián Alvarez and finished the sequence that put him beyond Klose.
Messi and Klose
The record had already been within reach. A few days before this match, Messi scored his first World Cup hat-trick, which moved him into co-ownership of the all-time tournament goalscoring record. That left him with one clear task in this match: take the top spot outright.
He got the chance to score his 17th goal and took it twice. The first goal gave him the tie-breaking mark in motion. The second made the gap permanent and ended Klose’s hold on the record.
Argentina around Messi
The response around him was immediate and physical. Argentina teammates protected Messi on the field like a national treasure, a sign of how much the match centered on him even after the missed penalty. Emiliano Martínez said he would “die in goal” for his captain and long-time teammate.
That protection also ran through the group’s history with him. Nicolás Otamendi tattooed Messi’s face on his body after winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and Rodrigo De Paul chose a transfer to Inter Miami at 32 to play alongside Messi.
Jorge Messi and the pressure
The match also carried a personal edge beyond the record. Last week, Messi’s camp said Jorge Messi was “going through a health situation,” and that detail added another layer to a night that already asked Messi to recover from a missed penalty before producing the goals that changed the record book.
That is the sharpest read on the night: Messi did not need a clean script to set the mark. He missed once, scored twice, and left the World Cup with a record that now belongs to him alone.
