International press hails Messi: ‘Eternal’, ‘King’, ‘Historic’ | OneFootball

Lionel Messi delivered another stellar performance in the 2-0 win over Austria, on Matchday 2 of Group J at the 2026 World Cup. The No. 10 bagged a brace, reached 18 official goals and was crowned the all-time top scorer in World Cup history, surpassing Germany’s Miroslav Klose. As a result, he not only received praise from his own teammates, but also from several highly prestigious international media outlets.

The Rosario-born star now has 18 goals in 28 official matches, a figure that will surely keep rising, and he moved past the former German striker, who scored 16 goals. “The most historic Messi” was how Spain’s Marca described him. It then went on to express a wish for the future: “Let’s dream of Leo at the 2030 World Cup in Spain. It makes you rub your eyes in disbelief”.

“Messi is eternal every single day. Let the tears of joy flow. 38 years of pure beauty”, commented Catalonia’s Sport. Meanwhile, the English newspaper The Guardian struck a more restrained tone: “Messi breaks World Cup goals record with opening strike”. Very different was the headline from Brazil’s GeGlobo, which added more emotion: “Messi 18 times! The star opens the scoring and breaks the record.”

Sport’s tribute from Catalonia to Lionel Messi. La Gazzetta dello Sport’s tribute from Italy to Lionel Messi. Marca’s tribute from Spain to Lionel Messi.

From England, 40 years after Diego Maradona’s Goal of the Century at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, praise also poured in. “The Age of Leo”, headlined The Sun. It then expanded by stating that “Lionel Messi breaks the World Cup scoring record with a brilliant brace in Argentina’s victory”. Meanwhile, Portuguese outlet A Bola gave one of the strongest headlines of all: “Messi is the new King.”

The same happened with France’s L’Equipe, which, despite the rivalry it maintains with Kylian Mbappé, who already has 15 World Cup goals and is chasing the No. 10’s record, acknowledged: “Close to turning 39, the 2022 world champion continues to cement his status as a legend”. It also set him a new challenge: “He is still far from the record of Just Fontaine, who scored 13 goals in a single tournament.”

Lionel Messi’s remarks after the 2-0 win over Austria

Lastly, Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport wrote: “Messi misses a penalty, then scores two more goals and makes history. Argentina beat Austria and qualify”. In this way, the performance of the Argentine star (who now accounts for all of Argentina’s goals so far) has once again gone beyond all borders and sparked the admiration of much of the international press.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.