Messi misses penalty then scores to claim outright World Cup goals record from Klose

Lionel Messi is now the outright record goalscorer in World Cup history after netting his 17th goal across the tournament’s stages, overtaking Germany’s Miroslav Klose — but the moment almost arrived in far less dramatic fashion.

Messi had drawn level with Klose at 16 goals just 76 minutes into World Cup 2026, completing a hat-trick against Algeria. When Argentina were awarded an early penalty via VAR review against Austria at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, the record appeared to be his for the taking. Messi aimed for Alexander Schlager’s bottom-left corner and missed the target entirely, leaving the Austrian goalkeeper a spectator.

The miss was the third of Messi’s seven World Cup penalties and added another chapter to a surprisingly complicated relationship with the spot kick. Across his entire career for club and country, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner has converted 116 penalties and missed 32, a success rate of approximately 78 percent — solid, but modest by the standards of a player widely regarded as the greatest of all time.

“I would like to be more effective from the penalty spot,” Messi said in 2018. “But it’s difficult to work on penalties. It’s not the same taking them in training as it is in a game. You can have an idea in your head or something you have worked on, but it’s more difficult than it seems.”

The record, when it finally arrived in the 38th minute, was entirely in keeping with Messi’s broader genius. He met a cut-back at the edge of the box and finished first-time with his left foot — a goal that required none of the lottery of a penalty and everything that has defined his career.

Messi will turn 39 this week and is widely expected to be playing in his final World Cup. The pursuit behind him is real: France captain Kylian Mbappé, more than a decade his junior, has scored 14 goals in 15 World Cup appearances and will have at least two more tournaments to close the gap.