Klose was right about Messi.

Just days after Miroslav Klose predicted Lionel Messi would break his record, the Argentine superstar made it a reality at the 2026 World Cup.

Messi officially broke Klose's World Cup goalscoring record. Photo: Reuters .

Before Argentina embarked on their 2026 World Cup campaign, German football legend Klose admitted he was waiting for the day the goalscoring record at the biggest football tournament on the planet would be broken. At that time, Lionel Messi was the name Klose had the highest expectations for.

"I believe my record will be broken at this World Cup. Messi can do it. I've always been a big fan of his," the former German national team striker shared in an interview with Suddeutsche Zeitung .

At that time, Klose was still the greatest goalscorer in World Cup history with 16 goals in 24 matches. Messi was close behind with 13 goals and needed four more to surpass the German's historic milestone.

It didn't take long for the Argentina captain to complete his task. In the opening match against Algeria, Messi exploded with a hat-trick, thus equaling Klose's record of 16 goals.

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In the match against Austria late on June 22nd, the 38-year-old superstar continued to make his mark with another goal, bringing his total number of goals in World Cups to 17. This number could even have increased if Messi hadn't missed a penalty early in the match.

This milestone officially makes Messi the player with the most goals in World Cup history, surpassing Klose's record that had stood for 12 years.

Also in that interview, the former German star suggested that the expanded World Cup format with more matches would create opportunities for top strikers to break old records, and affirmed that he would have no regrets if the Argentinian captain were the one to achieve that.

Klose once called Messi "a genius" and held coach Lionel Scaloni in high regard. Those remarks became even more meaningful when his prediction came true.

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Video of Messi completing his hat-trick in the second half: On the morning of June 17th, Lionel Messi completed a hat-trick to help Argentina defeat Algeria 3-0 in Group J of the 2026 World Cup.

Source: https://znews.vn/klose-da-dung-ve-messi-post1662216.html