MEXICO CITY, June 22 (Xinhua) -- Miroslav Klose congratulated Lionel Messi after the Argentine broke his World Cup goalscoring record on Monday.
Messi moved past Klose's record of 16 World Cup goals with a first-half strike in Argentina's 2-0 win over Austria in Dallas. He added another goal in stoppage time to take his career tally in the tournament to 18 goals.
"For me, Lionel Messi is the best of all time," Klose told German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "Congratulations, champ!"
Klose, now the manager of German second-tier club FC Nurnberg, scored five goals each at the 2002 and 2006 World Cups before netting four times in 2010 and twice in 2014.
Messi scored once in 2006, four times in 2014, once in 2018, seven times in 2022 and has netted five goals in the current tournament. ■
