Messi is the king of goals! Argentinean's record and Mbappe's pursuit at the 2026 World Cup

Lionel Messi officially became the top scorer in the history of the World Cup, scoring a double in the match against Austria. However, Kylian Mbappe is already breathing down his neck, having reduced the gap to a minimum.

The title of top scorer in the history of the World Cup has officially passed to Lionel Messi, writes xrust. In the second round of the group stage of the 2026 World Cup against Austria, the 38-year-old Argentine scored two goals, bringing his total score to 18 goals. The previous record belonged to the legendary German Miroslav Klose, who scored 16 goals.

The meeting, held in Dallas, started with failure for Messi — he missed a penalty in the 8th minute. However, already in the first half, the captain of the Argentine national team corrected himself, sending the ball into the bottom corner of the goal. He scored his 18th goal in added time, scoring a brace and making the final score 2-0 in favor of the reigning world champions.

The path to the record took Messi 20 years and six world championships, starting from his debut in 2006. “He’s a genius,” Miroslav Klose said earlier, commenting on the possible breaking of his record. Messi currently has 18 goals, and he also leads the list of top scorers in the current tournament with five goals scored.

Messi's main pursuer is France national team forward Kylian Mbappe. In a parallel match against Iraq, the 27-year-old Frenchman also scored twice, bringing the total number of goals at the World Cup to 16. Thus, Mbappe caught up with Miroslav Klose and moved into clear second place, only two goals behind Messi.

Experts are already making forecasts for the continuation of the race. Former technical director of Krasnodar Alexander Tolstikov in an interview with Match TV suggested that Messi will be ahead at the end of the current tournament, but Mbappe has every chance of becoming the top scorer in history by 2030.

Both forwards continue to play at the World Championship, and their duel will certainly become one of the main intrigues of the tournament.

By page The New York Times, L'Equipe, Opta Analyst.

Xrust Messi is the king of goals! Argentinean's record and Mbappe's pursuit at the 2026 World Cup