Messi just became the World Cup's all-time top scorer

Lionel Messi did it. On the 40th anniversary of Maradona's Hand of God moment, no less, the Argentine superstar broke the World Cup's all-time scoring record in Dallas on Monday, etching his name into football history in the only way that felt right.

A left-footed finish seven minutes before halftime in Argentina's Group J clash against Austria gave Messi his record-breaking goal. Then he added another in stoppage time, because apparently one legendary moment wasn't enough. The man turns 39 on Wednesday. He's already bagged five goals across two matches, which basically means Argentina's already won their group and everyone else might as well pack it in.

Here's the weird bit though: Messi actually missed a penalty early on. A genuine head-scratcher. You don't often see that happen, and when it does, you half-wonder if the football gods have finally decided to mess with him. Except they hadn't. Not really. The record came anyway, right on schedule, in the place where Maradona played his final international game back in 1994 before the doping ban that followed.

The timing feels almost scripted. Forty years to the day from that infamous hand-ball against England, and here's Messi doing what he does best—slotting past defenders with clinical precision, no drama, just results. He's now got daylight between himself and whoever was second on that all-time list, and honestly, his first golden boot award wouldn't shock anyone at this stage.

Argentina's looking unstoppable right now. With Messi in this form and Group J basically wrapped up, the bigger question isn't whether they'll advance—they will—but how many more records he's got left in him before the tournament ends.