‘It was annoying’: Austria coach Ralf Rangnick slams Messi’s first-half goal but admits ‘he is the best’
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "‘It was annoying’: Austria coach Ralf Rangnick slams Messi’s first-half goal but admits ‘he is the best’")
Austria coach Rangnick slams Messi’s first-half goal but admits ‘he is the best’ Photograph: (AFP)
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick called Lionel Messi’s record-breaking World Cup opener ‘annoying’ over an uncalled foul, but admitted the icon is ‘on a level of his own.’
Lionel Messi continues to prove his worth as perhaps the best football player of all time. Even at this age (turning 39), he doesn’t look like stopping, having already netted five times in Argentina’s two contested games at the FIFA World Cup 2026. After his hat-trick against Algeria, which tied him with Miroslav Klose for the most World Cup goals, Messi surpassed him with a 38th-minute stunner against Austria in Dallas. Although he scored a brace, with Argentina winning the match and qualifying for the Round of 32, Austria coach Ralf Rangnick wasn’t impressed with Messi's opening goal, questioning the fourth official’s decision to overlook a foul on his team player just before that.
Rangnick, however, remained in awe of Messi’s greatness, who broke a plethora of records to guide his team home in back-to-back matches in this edition. Messi, meanwhile, missed a penalty early in the game.
"If someone is 39 years old and can score two goals and five overall at the beginning of the World Cup, that makes a difference," Rangnick said of Messi. "We knew he was on a level of his own, and Lionel Messi showed he's one of the best, or even the best.
"But I think we participated in the second goal; that's our own fault.
"For the first goal, I would've asked the fourth official to do what he did before the penalty kick; he should have looked, and he would've seen what everyone saw: a foul on (Xaver) Schlager.
"It was annoying. However, I'm overall satisfied with my team, and I agree with how they played today,” he said, addressing controversy around Messi’s first goal.
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Austria coach Rangnick slams Messi’s first-half goal but admits ‘he is the best’ Photograph: (AFP)
Messi’s double, which accounted for his and Argentina’s fifth goal in the group stage itself, kept the defending champions in the driver’s seat against Austria.
While he admitted issues with his team’s first-half showing, Rangnick said the European side came all guns blazing in the second, only to concede a second to Messi against the run of play.
"This is Lionel Messi," said Rangnick. "He doesn't need many situations to actually decide a match."
"During every match at a World Cup, there are phases where one team has the momentum on their side," he said of his team’s performance. "It was in our favour, they missed the penalty kick, and after that we were in the game.
"I would've asked my players to be braver, to shoot during the second half. We were in control of the ball; most people didn't expect us to be that much in control.
"I think in the second half we put in a top performance,” he concluded.
Meanwhile, Austria is second after Argentina in Group J, with a win and a loss in two matches. A win in their final game against Algeria will seal their place in the Round of 32.
