‘Tired’ Messi celebrates goal-scoring record while Mbappé and Haaland star

Lionel Messi became the most prolific scorer in World Cup history on Monday and, asked to pick his favourite goal and describe the feeling of breaking the record, summed up the night with characteristic understatement: “I’m very tired.”

The 38-year-old Argentinian captain missed a penalty, scored twice and stretched his World Cup scoring run to six matches in a hard-fought 2-0 victory over Austria that sent his team into the knockout stage.

Messi’s first goal, a first-time finish from Facundo Medina’s low cross, moved him past German Miroslav Klose with 17 World Cup goals in the men’s tournament.

Brazil’s Marta holds the women’s tournament record with 17.

Messi’s stoppage-time second took him two goals clear on his own, setting a new overall mark.

“I’m very happy with the win,” Messi said. “It was a hugely important victory, a tough one, and one we worked hard for. It gives us calm for what’s coming.”

The night might have been more comfortable had he converted from the penalty spot in the first half, but Messi said Argentina could take satisfaction from managing the game after Austria improved following the break.

“The truth is that the way it turned out today was spectacular,” he said. “I had the penalty that could have increased the lead, but I’m happy with the result and with the team’s work.”

Messi, who turns 39 later this week, now has five goals at this World Cup and Argentina have six points from two Group J matches, enough to reach the last 32 with a game to spare.

Records

Two days from turning 39, already older than Diego Maradona was when he retired from soccer, Lionel Messi cannot stop breaking records.

“I’ve always said that Messi is not bad,” Klose joked to the Suddeutsche Zeitung, describing him as the greatest player of all time. Marta, meanwhile, posted applause emojis on Instagram.

An eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, Messi became La Liga’s all-time top scorer during a Barcelona tenure that spanned nearly two decades and yielded 34 trophies, including 10 Spanish league and four Champions League titles.

The Spanish team banked on the Rosario-born, Newell’s Old Boys-formed Messi from a very young age. In 2012, he had already been responsible for what many describe as the greatest year a player has had in soccer, with 91 goals.

Across club soccer he owns a record 40 titles, while for Argentina he stands alone as the most-capped player with 201 appearances and the all-time leading scorer with 122 goals.

Messi, a father of three, has now also rewritten World Cup longevity – six tournaments played and a record 28 matches. He is the only player to score in the tournament as a teenager, in his 20s and in his 30s. Now, on the cusp of 40, he has authored one of the tournament’s most striking statistical triumphs.

Argentina glory

The Argentina glory, however, took time to arrive.

Messi burst onto the global stage in 2006 as a prodigy, but endured frustration in the 2010 and 2018 World Cup tournaments, and the anguish of the 2014 final defeat by Germany in Brazil.

Copa America campaigns often ended in disappointment, including in 2016 when he missed a penalty in a shootout defeat by Chile in the final.

Yet the tide turned and then surged. Copa America titles in 2021 and 2024, with the crowning achievement of the 2022 World Cup in between – a triumph that former striker Jorge Valdano described as liberating him to happiness.

There were detours. A muted spell at Paris St Germain between 2021 and 2023 prompted doubts about decline before a move to Inter Miami that many assumed would be his swansong.

But Messi has kept on giving, and even his blemishes feed the narrative.

Against Austria, he became the first player to miss penalties in three different World Cups, but responded with two goals that decided the match and reshaped the record books.

Reverence

Inside the Argentina camp, reverence borders on awe. Defender Lisandro Martinez said: “There’s no need to compare him, because he stands alone at the top.”

When Messi arrived in the US for the World Cup, he was still behind Ronaldo’s 15 goals at the finals for Brazil.

“For the gods of soccer, it’s a fitting statistic that he surpasses everyone. If there’s anyone who deserves this title, I think Messi is the perfect man to be there,” the former Brazil striker said.

What comes next feels like speculation rather than prediction. The march toward 1,000 career goals (he has already more than 900)?

A second World Cup title? Even a seventh appearance at the tournament in his 40s in 2030, when Argentina are slated to host one of the opening matches?

Few would dare to draw a line under Messi now. For his part, the Argentina captain is keeping the door open.

“As long as I can and I feel good enough to do it, I’ll be there,” he said after scoring a hat-trick in Argentina’s 3-0 win in their World Cup opener against Algeria.

Haaland double

Erling Haaland struck twice in Norway’s 3-2 win over Senegal on Monday, sending his team into the knockout rounds in their first World Cup appearance for 28 years and signalling his intention to make his mark on soccer’s biggest stage.

On a damp evening in New Jersey, Senegal – widely seen as Africa’s best hope at the World Cup – began strongly but their defence ultimately failed to contain Norway’s attack, and particularly the 25-year-old Haaland, who now has four goals in two matches at the tournament.

The match tempo had a similar feel to Senegal’s first game, against France, with the African team competing strongly in the first half hour, frustrating their opponents and keeping Haaland off the ball.

As half-time approached, however, Senegal’s defence broke down. Norway’s first goal was from substitute Marcus Pedersen, who had replaced the injured Julian Ryerson.

Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly misjudged a clearance and goalkeeper Édouard Mendy was unable to keep out Pedersen’s rasping shot.

The second half had hardly begun and Norway doubled their lead. A classic assist from Martin Odegaard allowed Haaland to rifle a shot into the top corner. Ten minutes later, Haaland struck again, volleying home off the crossbar.

Despite a litany of defensive errors, Senegal sometimes looked dangerous on the counter-attack, with Ismaïla Sarr getting two goals back, including one in stoppage time.

Mbappé brace

Kylian Mbappé scored his second brace in as many matches as France eased into the last 32 with a 3-0 victory over Iraq on Monday in the first match of this World Cup beset by a lengthy weather stoppage.

The goals for Mbappé, in his 100th cap, came nearly three hours apart after thunderstorms in the region delayed the second-half kick-off by approximately two hours.

“The first half was good,” French manager Didier Deschamps said. “In the second half, we picked up where we left off, bearing in mind that it wasn’t easy given what happened, and we managed to put the game beyond reach. That’s a very good thing.”

Mbappé now sits on 16 all-time World Cup goals, pulling level with the former record-holder, Germany’s Miroslav Klose and two behind Messi. Reuters/DM