Before surpassing Klose in World Cup artillery, Argentine star Lionel Messi broke another record: he is the first player in history to miss penalties in three different World Cups.
The sequence began at the World Cup in Russia, in 2018, against Iceland, in the first round of the group stage. The score was 1-1 when, 18 minutes into the second half, Maxi Meza was brought down in the area.
Messi took the charge, but shot from half height (neither high nor low) into the right corner of goalkeeper Halldórsson, who saved it without having to stretch too much. The match ended in a 1-1 draw.
On the second occasion, in the 2022 World Cup, against Poland, Messi missed a penalty that he himself suffered after being hit in the face by goalkeeper Szczesny in an aerial dispute, in the 37th minute of the first half. This time, the star hit better, much harder, but the Polish goalkeeper incredibly reached the left corner.
Now, in the match against Austria, Messi hit trying to take goalkeeper Alexandar Schlager, but ended up throwing it out.
Shortly afterwards, Messi scored his 17th World Cup goal and opened the scoring against the Austrians, taking away the weight of the missed penalty.
