Lionel Messi scores brace as Argentina beat Austria 2-0 at World Cup 2026

Lionel Messi scores brace as Argentina beat Austria 2-0 at World Cup 2026Messi scores twice to become all-time leading scorer in men’s World Cup history as Argentina reach knockout rounds.Lionel Messi became the leading scorer in World Cup history as the captain struck twice to give Argentina a 2-0 win over Austria and send the champions into the last 32.The player widely regarded as the greatest of all time pounced late in the first half in Texas on Monday with a trademark left-footed finish after neat build-up play.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4‘I’m here’: Yamal scores, dazzles and embraces the spotlight in World Cup startlist 2 of 4World Cup knockouts: Who has made it to the round of 32 stage?list 3 of 4No pressure to pass the ball to Ronaldo, Portugal’s Conceicao sayslist 4 of 4Salah scores against NZ as Egypt records historic win at World Cupend of listThe predatory goal added to his hat-trick in Argentina’s opening match to make it 17 in total at the World Cup.The 38-year-old then sealed the match deep in injury time after a scramble in the box, as he outfoxed four defenders who lined up to keep the ball out.It should have been even better for Messi, who missed a penalty early on, stunning a fiercely pro-Argentina 70,649 crowd at the air-conditioned home of the Dallas Cowboys.With both sides knowing a win would put them into the knockout rounds with a game to spare, Lautaro Martinez was brought down in the box, sandwiched by two Austrian players.Referee Amin Mohamed gave a penalty after a VAR intervention, and a wall of noise went up as Messi stepped forward on nine minutes.But his run-up was slow and his weak effort off target, dragging it wide.For all his brilliance, Messi – who turns 39 on Wednesday – is surprisingly poor from the penalty spot by his standards.He also saw his spot-kick saved by Wojciech Szczesny in a 2-0 win over Poland at the 2022 World Cup, where Argentina went on to be champions, and missed at the 2018 tournament.In the 19th minute Messi had a clear sniff at goal, only for Austria captain David Alaba to steal the ball off his toes at the last moment as he danced through on goal.