Soccer
No penalty? No problem: Lionel Messi stands alone as World Cup's greatest goalscorer
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"Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now it's here."
With apologies to Thanos, the supervillain archnemesis of The Avengers, it's actually Lionel Messi who is inevitable.
The Argentine superstar somehow found himself another record to break, this one reserved for only the best of the best. On Monday, Messi took sole control of the top spot on the all-time leading goalscorers list at the FIFA World Cup. He did so by leading the Albiceleste to their second victory of the 2026 tournament, a 2-0 win over Austria in which Messi scored both goals, which came less than a week after scoring all three goals in Argentina's 3-0 destruction of Algeria.
That puts him at 18 total goals across six World Cups, ahead of previous pace-setter Miroslav Klose, as Messi officially stamped his name as the most prolific marksman in the history of the sport's biggest competition.
In vintage Messi fashion, the milestone goal came with a bit of drama, as moments earlier, he missed a penalty kick that would have given him the record. The 38-year-old icon would have taken the all-time lead in rather anti-climactic fashion after giving the world so many jaw-dropping highlights over his two-decade career of mazy runs and seemingly physics-defying strikes.
That would have been boring, though, and perhaps the only real flaw in Messi's game came through as the Argentine took a rather casual-looking run-up and struck his penalty effort wide right. It was his third miss in seven World Cup penalty attempts, more than anyone else, and served simply to build anticipation for the magic moment when Messi could take hold of the scoring title in style.
In the 38th minute, nearly a half-hour after his penalty miss, Messi followed an Argentina attacking move into the box and struck a low, left-footed drive through a mess of bodies and past Austria goalkeeper Alexander Schlager for the historic goal.
It was a far more fitting way to claim sole possession of the record, and it marked the sixth straight World Cup match in which Messi has found the score sheet — which in itself is a standard that hasn't been met in over half-a-century.
Earlier this week, my DAZN News colleague Ash Rose opined that Kylian Mbappé may be primed to take hold of the Golden Boot race in this World Cup. The France talisman struck for a brace in his first match and is the reigning Golden Boot winner from 2022, so it was a very reasonable take.
Mbappé, still just four goals back of Messi on the all-time list despite being 11 years the Argentine's junior, is the main man in waiting as the World Cup's greatest goal scorer. But Messi, just two days shy of his 39th birthday, continues to defy the relentless pursuit of both Mbappé and Father Time, as he has now single-handedly taken Argentina into the second round of the World Cup with five goals so far this summer.
His genius is not ready to fade out just yet, and at this pace it's hard to bet against Messi claiming his first-ever World Cup Golden Boot award — as long as he stops taking penalties.
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