Miroslav Klose, the former Germany striker who held the World Cup goalscoring record since 2014, publicly congratulated Lionel Messi after the Argentina forward surpassed his milestone during the 2026 tournament. Klose, who scored 16 goals over four World Cups, acknowledged Messi’s new record as a fitting achievement for the six-time World Cup participant.

Messi first equaled Klose’s record with a hat-trick against Algeria last week before extending it to 18 goals with a brace against Austria on Monday. Speaking to a German newspaper, Klose described Messi as the best footballer of all time and expressed his satisfaction that such a "genius" had claimed the record. “That is perfectly alright, the record would be broken at some stage anyway, and I’d be happy for Messi to be the one to do it,” Klose said. Now head coach of second division club Nuremberg, Klose admitted he had anticipated his mark would eventually be overtaken, and he remains a longtime admirer of Messi.

Messi, who commenced his World Cup goal tally in 2006, has scored in every tournament except the 2010 edition. He has found the net in six consecutive World Cup matches spanning the 2022 and 2026 tournaments, amassing all five of Argentina’s goals in the current competition and leading the scoring charts.

Despite Messi’s record-breaking performance, another contender looms in France’s captain Kylian Mbappe, who entered his next match against Iraq with 14 World Cup goals. The ongoing tournament may still see further shifts in the goalscoring rankings as Mbappe continues to compete.