Record Breaker Lionel Messi Proves Age Is Just a Number

ARLINGTON, Texas — It is an oft-repeated tale that Texas Stadium, the former home of the Dallas Cowboys just outside their namesake city, had a large hole in the roof for the unique purpose of allowing God to watch his favorite football team. The franchise carried over the architectural feature to its new venue across the metroplex, AT&T Stadium, but updated the opening to also include a giant 160 ft screen beneath so that both deities and fans alike can take in the action in a far more modern way.

By whatever viewpoint the football gods above, or over 70,649 in the building, took in the action during Argentina’s 2-0 victory over Austria on Monday afternoon, they can surely be thankful they were allowed more than a glimpse at history—they witnessed an ascension of the highest order on the pitch. The greatest of all time became, as if there was any question about it, the undeniably greatest of all time.

Courtesy of a mesmerizing brace against the Austrians, Lionel Messi firmly put everyone else in the sport in his rearview mirror to become the all-time leading scorer at the World Cup. What’s more, the soon-to-be 39 year old appears to be showing no signs of stopping with his 18 goals either as the tournament’s biggest star looks more than capable of defending his title next month.

“He is alone on the summit and we have to enjoy it,” confirmed smiling La Albiceleste center back Lisandro Martinez. “He’s not comparable to anyone.”

Lionel Messi Stands Alone

Indeed, Messi has done the unthinkable and essentially completed football—as if it’s some video game worth conquering and not a sport without a firm ending. To argue otherwise is only down to personal preference for a competitor. Even then, there must be a begrudging respect, deep down, that you’ve been dealt a losing hand.

Messi stands by himself in nearly every respect of his remarkable career. The number of trophies he’s collected borders on the absurd. The accolades given to him may well need an aircraft hanger if you’re to line them up next to each other. The heaps of records already to his name before this week run his resume longer than the sprawling lines of Argentinian fans who flocked to North Texas just to be in the same postal code as their beloved star.

Now he does so alone atop the all-time leaderboard at the most prestigious competition on the globe after moving past German striker Miroslav Klose, on 16.

“If someone is [nearly] 39 years old and can score two goals, and five goals overall in the beginning of a World Cup, that makes a difference,” Austrian coach Ralf Rangnick said with barely a shrug. “We knew that he is on a level of his own and Lionel Messi showed us today that he is the best.

“He doesn’t need many situations to actually decide a match.”

Not Everything Went to Plan

What’s more remarkable is that Messi also looked, truth be told, somewhat mortal in doing so at times.

Just four minutes into the second match of Group J, Argentine forward Lautaro Martínez was taken out inside the box after Austrian defenders Stefan Posch and Xaver Schlager both slammed into the forward’s ankle. VAR eventually determined it was a penalty and camera phones around the billion dollar stadium-–most held by those wearing a blue and white No. 10 shirt—instantly started recording en masse.

As expected, Messi stepped up to take the kick before doing something just as improbable as scoring in a sixth consecutive World Cup game (also a record): he sailed one of the more puzzling penalties of his entire career to the right of the post and well beyond even the outstretched hand of keeper Alexander Schlager.

It was the third missed penalty in seven attempts across Messi’s six World Cup appearances and the first that was truly missed, and not saved, from the spot.

“The penalty that I could have scored, maybe if I had done that, I wouldn’t have scored the others,” said Messi with a slight grin. “You never know, but I’m happy about the results.”

Poetry in Motion

The miss was emblematic of the man himself, a dichotomy which sees Messi as both a perfect player but equally as flawed as every other human is.

He would appear far from the ideal athlete—for this sport or any other—with a 5’7” frame and yet he is incredibly well suited to making every opponent look foolish when making any attempt to contain him. The highest stage in world soccer was previously home to heartbreak and an occasional frailty where it mattered most for those of his caliber, now it is the arena which has only reconfirmed his greatness.

So perhaps it was apt that after one puzzling setback, he delivered enough brilliance to make you shake your head at what came next.

Set up by Thiago Almada making a driving run toward the box just inside the 38th minute, the Atlético Madrid midfielder was able to find a marauding Facundo Medina wide to the left. The latter promptly crossed it back through the box, which was brilliantly dummied by Almada through his legs directly to an unfathomably unmarked Messi.

A yard behind the penalty spot where he had just gone wide a quarter hour before, the soccer great was inevitable and slotted it slightly to his left for a historic 17th World Cup goal that was a perfect way to capture a historic record in a manner only he could.

Messi’s second to give him the brace was far from as aesthetically pleasing as his first, capping off a hectic rebound from a pair of deflections in second half stoppage time to eventually find the net in the 95th minute. That kept him atop the current World Cup Golden Boot race (with five) at the same time and left many waiting around more than an hour before exiting the stadium discussing where each ranks in the pantheon of his finishes.

“I’m tired, I don’t have a lot of strength and it’s hard for me to think right now,” said Messi, declining to name his favorite of the 18 World Cup goals he’s scored after completing his first full 90 minutes since injuring his hamstring in mid-May against MLS side Portland Timbers. “I’m just enjoying this moment.”

He was not alone.

Appreciating Every Messi Moment

Despite the fairly early local start time for the game, Argentina fans took advantage of the slightly cooler temperatures of mid-morning in North Texas to flock to the sprawling parking lots and strip malls that surrounded AT&T Stadium by the thousands.

If they were not joining in with the numerous chants frequently heard during La Albiceleste matches, they could often be seen wrapping the sun-spotted Argentine flag around their shoulders. Many kept wandering in circles to find a spot where they might be able to take a picture beforehand, the kind that you can pull up years later to show others as proof that you were indeed there to see Messi do something never done before.

Fittingly, the heroics on Monday came 40 years to the day that countryman Diego Maradona scored his famous—or infamous depending on who you ask—’Hand of God’ goal against England in the World Cup. Beneath hundreds of signs and murals picturing both of the national heroes together, it was Messi who reminded all that he needed no divine intervention to see his reputation solidified with everyone watching near or afar.

“I have no more words to talk about Leo,” said winning manager Lionel Scaloni.

He is not wrong. There are no more retorts left to utter when discussing Messi himself.

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Argentina’s World Cup-Winning Credentials

There may, however, be a few more about Scaloni’s team which the forward captains. While many have viewed this run by the reigning title holders as something akin to a last dance at another championship—something literally written on the bottom of Messi’s boots—it was done so almost derisively. It’s hard enough to win one World Cup, to repeat for the first time in decades is the stuff only die-hard fans talk themselves into.

Much less with a roster full of players on the wrong side of 30 years old and their best player running the show in the domestic MLS league.

Alas, such banter can be fully retired after Argentina’s first two games at this World Cup. Not only are they capable of winning it all next month, they and their talisman should rightfully be viewed as the biggest obstacle for the rest of the field going into the final next month in New Jersey.

If you want the golden trophy, you are going to have to beat the ones who still have it first.

Rangnick, for his part, had a simple answer that spoke to what he just witnessed and the chances of back-to-back titles: “Of course.”

“It has to be said that we played against one of the best teams in the world,” added Bayern Munich midfielder Konrad Laimer, who was forced to play far more defensive for his national team than he ever does for his club. “I think that we did an excellent job.”

Excellent, unfortunately for Laimer and his roster, only goes so far when Messi also happens to be on the field at the same time.

That is something else entirely, something special beyond belief which is easy to see from any angle.

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Published 1 hour ago | Modified 1 hour agoBRYAN FISCHER

Bryan Fischer is a staff writer at Sports Illustrated covering college sports. He joined the SI staff in October 2024 after spending nearly two decades at outlets such as FOX Sports, NBC Sports and CBS Sports. A member of the Football Writers Association of America’s All-America Selection Committee and a Heisman Trophy voter, Fischer has received awards for investigative journalism from the Associated Press Sports Editors and FWAA. He has a bachelor’s in communication from USC.

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