Lionel Messi continued to rewrite World Cup history, scoring twice as defending champions Argentina beat Austria 2-0 to seal their place in the knockout stage on Monday.
The Argentine captain struck his record-breaking 17th World Cup goal in the 38th minute before adding another deep into stoppage time to take his tally to 18 in the tournament.
Messi had a chance to break the record much earlier but sent a ninth-minute penalty wide. He, however, made amends before the break when he latched on to a clever pass from Facundo Medina and calmly beat goalkeeper Alexander Schlager from outside the box.
The 38-year-old, who had equalled Miroslav Klose’s previous record of 16 goals with a hat-trick against Algeria in Argentina’s opening match, has now scored in six consecutive World Cup games.
Austria fought hard but struggled to contain Messi, who put the result beyond doubt in stoppage time by firing home after Schlager had initially denied him.
Argentina have won both their group matches, with Messi scoring all five of their goals so far.
