Lionel Messi has spent two decades collecting records the way most people collect streaming subscriptions: casually, constantly, and with an air of inevitability. Now he’s one goal away from the biggest one left on his list.
Argentina’s captain enters the Group J match against Austria on June 22 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, level with Germany’s Miroslav Klose at 16 World Cup goals. One more, and the all-time record belongs to him alone.
The hat-trick that changed the math
Messi’s path to this moment accelerated dramatically in Argentina’s tournament opener against Algeria. He scored a hat-trick, his first ever in World Cup play, vaulting from 13 career World Cup goals to 16 in a single match.
That performance drew him level with Klose, whose record of 16 goals had stood since the 2014 tournament in Brazil. For context, Klose needed four World Cups across 12 years to build that tally. Messi has now matched it across five tournaments spanning two full decades.
