{"id":214518,"date":"2026-06-22T21:37:56","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:37:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/lionel-messi-breaks-record-for-career-goals-scored-at-the-world-cup-nbc-news\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T21:37:56","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T21:37:56","slug":"lionel-messi-breaks-record-for-career-goals-scored-at-the-world-cup-nbc-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/lionel-messi-breaks-record-for-career-goals-scored-at-the-world-cup-nbc-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Lionel Messi breaks record for career goals scored at the World Cup – NBC News"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Argentina star Lionel Messi has set a record for career goals scored at the World Cup, recording his 17th and 18th World Cup goals against Austria on Monday.
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Entering the match tied for the all-time lead, Messi scored the record goal in the 38th minute, burying a left-footed one-timer off a pass from Facundo Medina. Messi had a chance to break the mark much earlier in the match, but he missed a penalty kick wide right in the ninth minute.
During stoppage time in the second half, Messi added to his record, scoring his fifth goal of the tournament to lead Argentina to a 2-0 win.
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Messi, who turns 39 this week, entered this World Cup with 13 career goals across five World Cup tournaments. He scored a hat trick <\/a>in the team\u2019s opener against Algeria to tie Germany\u2019s Miroslav Klose\u2019s record of 16 before he set the new mark Monday.
Messi\u2019s World Cup career began in 2006, when he scored only his second goal for Argentina (and first in a non-exhibition match) against Serbia and Montenegro.
After he failed to score at the 2010 World Cup, Messi scored four times at the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
Messi scored only once more at the 2018 Cup before his remarkable performance in 2022. He scored seven times for Argentina during its World Cup-winning run in Qatar, including twice in the final in a win over France<\/a>.
The World Cup record is yet another accomplishment in Messi\u2019s highly decorated career.
In addition to having scored the most goals in World Cup history, Messi has won more Ballon d\u2019Or awards (eight) than any other player in history. He also owns records for the most goals scored in a calendar year (91 in 2012), the most goals scored for a single club (672 for Barcelona) and the most goals in La Liga history (474).
With his appearance against Algeria, Messi also became the first player to play in six World Cups, a feat his longtime rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, matched later in the tournament.
Messi\u2019s international career began in 2005. In addition to winning the World Cup in 2022, he led Argentina to wins in the Copa Am\u00e9rica, the South American championship, in 2021 and 2024. He also won a gold medal with his country at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
While Messi\u2019s World Cup goals record is a testament to his longevity, multiple stars currently playing will be chasing it.
France\u2019s Kylian Mbapp\u00e9, the top goal scorer in the 2018 tournament, has 14 goals in only 15 career World Cup matches.
England\u2019s Harry Kane has also scored 10 in only 12 World Cup appearances.
Both Mbapp\u00e9 and Kane have scored more goals per World Cup match than Messi.
Rohan Nadkarni is a sports reporter for NBC News.\u00a0
© 2026 NBCUniversal Media, LLC<\/p>\n

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news AlertsThere are no new alerts at this timeArgentina star Lionel Messi has set a record for career goals scored at the World Cup, recording his 17th and 18th World Cup goals against Austria on Monday.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Entering the match tied for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":214519,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-214518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}