Get free access to the most comprehensive World Cup coverage in The Athletic app.One of sport’s most iconic and well-known records has been broken: it is now Lionel Messi, not the German Miroslav Klose, who has scored the most goals in World Cup history.Messi eclipsed Klose on Monday by scoring for the 17th time in the competition with his superbly-taken finish against Austria before going on and netting an 18th World Cup goal late in the second half and, in many ways, it feels right that one of the greatest footballers of all time now sits atop such a famous list.That is not to denigrate the achievements of Klose who, as well as his life-defining performances at the World Cup, had a good club career in Europe and remains his country’s all-time top scorer.However, the German has — 12 years after claiming the record from the Brazilian Ronaldo with his 16th World Cup goal — been usurped by Messi and, like so many before him, will have to settle for playing second fiddle to the 38-year-old Argentinian.Here, The Athletic analyses how Messi overhauled Klose, breaks down both men’s World Cup goals, explores the history of the record and assesses how long the new mark might last (spoiler: probably not very long due to the continued brilliance of a certain 27-year-old Frenchman).For context, here are the 16 men to have scored 10 goals or more at the World Cup. Three of them — Messi (18 goals), France’s Kylian Mbappe (14) and England’s Harry Kane (10) are playing in the 2026 competition.We will come back to some of these names and the record's progression a little later, but first let's take a detailed look at Messi and Klose's World Cup goals — starting with how many they have netted at each tournament they have appeared in.Overall, Klose played 24 games at the World Cup, while Messi's total is 28 (and counting). And, for reference, Klose turned 24 years old during his first World Cup in 2002 and Messi celebrated his 19th birthday at his maiden tournament in 2006.As you can see, Klose — who is now 48 — played and scored at the 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 editions of the World Cup. It was in the last of those tournaments, which Germany won, that he became the competition's outright all-time top scorer when he struck his 16th goal in a semi-final against Brazil.As for Messi, his 18 goals have been scored at five World Cups, with Cristiano Ronaldo (also five) the only other man to find the net at so many editions of the competition. The Portuguese may, of course, make that six soon.The difference in the number of shots each player has taken at the World Cup is striking, with Messi having attempted a whopping 52 more than Klose but scoring just two more goals.This is partly down to the fact Messi has played in two more editions of the competition and been on the pitch at those tournaments for 691 more minutes than Klose, but is also testament to the impressive finishing prowess the German displayed on the biggest stage of all: Klose scored with 24 per cent of his shots at the World Cup, compared to Messi's current figure of 15. As for the duo's minutes-per-goal rates, Klose is again superior with an average of 112 to Messi's 138.Meanwhile, the five goals Klose scored at the 2006 World Cup won him the prestigious Golden Boot (awarded to the tournament's top scorer), which is one of the very few things in football that Messi has, for now, not achieved.That said, it is very much worth stressing that Klose played as an out-and-out striker for Germany whereas Messi has, as well as scoring the most goals in the World Cup's history, arguably been its best playmaker too.Now, here are the teams that Klose and Messi have found the net against in the sport's biggest competition.The average FIFA ranking of the sides Klose scored against was 20, whereas for Messi it is currently 29. Saudi Arabia and Australia are the only two teams that they have both scored against.Speaking of Saudi Arabia, they are one of two sides that Klose scored against more than twice, with Argentina the other. Two of those Klose goals against the South American nation came with Messi on the pitch — his double in the 2010 quarter-final clash in South Africa that Germany won 4-0. The pair also came up against each other in the final in Brazil four years later, but neither player scored in a game that Klose's side won 1-0 after extra time.Now let's look at the rounds of the World Cup that these two men have got their goals in, with Messi scoring in them all and Klose only failing to find the net in the final (excluding the third-place play-off, which Klose played in once without scoring and Messi has never appeared in). Both men have played in two finals, losing once and winning once: Klose lost in 2002 and won in 2014 and Messi lost in 2014 and won in 2022.As you can see, Messi has scored twice more in the group stage than Klose and both have scored five times in the knockout stage (trailing the record of eight jointly held by Brazilian duo Leonidas and Ronaldo and France's Mbappe).Meanwhile, with the introduction of the round of 32 at this tournament, Messi has the chance to score in yet another stage of the competition.Here are the pair's goals broken down by the body part they were scored with.All five goals Klose scored at his first tournament in 2002 were headers, with this including a hat-trick against Saudi Arabia. That was the only treble Klose bagged at the World Cup, with Messi having also achieved this particular feat once (against Algeria last week).Meanwhile, the Argentinian is yet to score a header at the World Cup but has netted an impressive four times with his weaker right foot. Klose only scored once with his inferior left foot.Another notable difference when assessing the duo's World Cup goals is where on the pitch they were scored from: all 16 of Klose's came from inside the penalty area, with six of them from within the six-yard box.In contrast, Messi has scored five times from outside the penalty box and of the 13 he has netted from inside the area, just two have been struck from within the six-yard box: his second goal against France in the 2022 final and his second against Austria on Monday in Texas.Klose never scored (or took) a penalty at the World Cup, while Messi has scored four times from the spot in the competition (excluding shootouts), with all of them coming in the 2022 edition. Only Harry Kane (five) has scored more penalties in the World Cup's history. Messi has also missed three spot kicks in the competition (against Iceland in 2018, Poland in 2022 and Austria on Monday).Now, here are the players both men have been assisted by for their World Cup hauls, with a notable five of Klose's goals being set up by Michael Ballack. Goalkeeper Manuel Neuer's name also jumps out, with the then-24-year-old teeing Klose up with a long-range punt downfield against England in the round of 16 in 2010.As for Messi, no player has assisted him more than once. This could change soon, though, with current Argentina squad members Rodrigo De Paul, Nicolas Gonzalez, Facundo Medina and Nicolas Otamendi, all on the below list.