Stay up to date with notifications from The IndependentNotifications can be managed in browser preferences.AllNewsSportCultureLifestyleArgentina were awarded an early penalty against Austria (Getty)Argentina were awarded a penalty inside the opening eight minutes of their World Cup clash against Austria on Monday.The referee initially waved away Argentina’s penalty appeal, as Lautaro Martinez went down following a challenge by two Austria defenders.Replays showed that one of the Austria defenders appeared to get the ball, but the other one seemed to make contact with Martinez’s ankle, forcing him to go down.Following a lengthy VAR review, the referee was advised to check his pitchside monitor, and he subsequently awarded a penalty against the player who failed to get the ball.Lionel Messi had the chance to become the all-time World Cup leading goalscorer, but he shockingly put his penalty wide of the target to keep the scoreline at 0-0.In fullArgentina v Austria LIVE: Lionel Messi misses early penalty with World Cup scoring record on the lineThank you for registeringPlease refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in

Messi could take the World Cup goal record outright after his hat-trick in Argentina’s opener

Live updates of the World Cup clash between Argentina and Austria.