Argentina beat Austria on another special day for Lionel Messi

Argentina beat Austria on another special day for Lionel Messi

Argentina won for the second time in this FIFA World Cup. And once again with Lionel Messi as the star.

The 38-year-old scored both goals in the 2-0 win over Austria, securing the reigning champions’ place in the knockout stage.

Nine minutes into the match, before opening the scoring, Messi even missed a penalty, sending the ball wide.

But still in the first half he made up for the mistake, striking from the edge of the box to make it 1-0 and become the top scorer in World Cup history.

The second came in second-half stoppage time, on a counterattack that killed off the game.

The Argentine had gone into the match tied with Germany’s Miroslav Klose, but now stands alone at the top of the ranking with 18 goals.

Austria caused problems throughout the game, but hardly forced goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez into making any good saves.

The Europeans remain on three points in the table after beating Jordan in their opening match.

More milestones for Messi

The milestones Messi reached this Monday went beyond becoming the all-time top scorer at the World Cup.

He became only the third player to score in six consecutive matches in the tournament, after France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.