Lionel Messi became the top scorer in FIFA World Cup history after scoring his 17th goal of the tournament in Argentina’s 2-0 win over Austria on Monday. The Argentina captain then added another goal in stoppage time to take his tally to 18.Messi reached the landmark in the 38th minute, just two days before his 39th birthday. With the strike, Messi scored in his sixth consecutive World Cup match, joining France’s Just Fontaine and Brazil’s Jairzinho as the only players to achieve this feat.The Argentina captain had equaled Germany’s Miroslav Klose on 16 World Cup goals after scoring his first hat-trick of the tournament in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Algeria in their Group J opener last Tuesday in Kansas City.He had an early chance to get ahead of Klose against Austria, but missed a penalty in the ninth minute.Argentina, who won both of their group games, have already secured a place in the knockout stages. Messi has scored all five of Argentina’s goals in the tournament so far, which is his sixth World Cup.His record goal came when Thiago Almada allowed Facundo Medina to pass Messi. From about 20 yards, Messi placed his shot past goalkeeper Alexander Schlager, who had moved the wrong way.After scoring, Messi ran to the corner and raised his right arm as Argentina’s largely supportive crowd celebrated in the sold-out stadium, which drew 70,649 spectators to the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.The same crowd had reacted moments earlier when Messi missed from the penalty spot. His left footed effort went just wide of the right post. He has now converted four of seven penalties taken during regular play in World Cup matches and has missed penalties in three subsequent tournaments.Messi’s second goal came in stoppage time. After his initial effort was saved by Schlager, he sent the rebound through a crowd of defenders and into the net.Klose scored his 16th World Cup goal in 24 games for Germany. His last World Cup appearance came in Germany’s 1-0 extra-time win over Argentina in the 2014 final.In an interview published on June 12, Klose said he expects Messi to break his record.“I expect my record to fall in this tournament,” Klose told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.“With the bigger field of the competing teams, there are more games and thus more chances to score goals. And I guess Argentina and France will go far. It’s perfectly fine, the record will be broken eventually anyway and Messi is welcome to be the one who does it. I’m a big fan of Messi, I always have been. Messi is a genius.”Messi’s hat-trick against Algeria came in his 200th international appearance and exactly 20 years after his World Cup debut in Germany, where he also scored. Monday’s game was his 28th World Cup appearance, a FIFA record.