Texas, June 22 -- Lionel Messi expressed his delight after scoring a record-breaking brace to lead defending champions Argentina to a 2-0 victory over a resilient Austria side in their Group J match of the FIFA World Cup 2026 on Monday, June 22 (local time), sealing their place in the knockout stage.

With his brace, Messi not only secured victory for his side but also rewrote the record books by becoming the all-time leading goalscorer in men's FIFA World Cup history ahead of his 39th birthday on June 24, surpassing Germany's Miroslav Klose. He opened the scoring in the 38th minute to move past Klose's tally of 16 goals and later added another in stoppage time to take his overall World Cup tally to 18 goals, two ahead of the German legen...