Miroslav Klose, the legendary German striker, recently revealed that he had a significant conversation with Lionel Messi following the Argentine's remarkable achievement of surpassing Klose's World Cup scoring record. The call was facilitated by Argentina's coach, Lionel Scaloni, a former teammate of Klose at Lazio.

During an interview with the internal media of Nuremberg, Klose recounted how Scaloni arranged the call on June 17, shortly after Messi equaled Klose's record of 16 goals in World Cup history. "Scaloni and I have kept in touch since our days at Lazio, and he set up the conversation between me and Messi after he matched my record. It was an emotional moment for me," Klose said.

Klose, who played for Werder Bremen during his career, noted that he and Messi have always respected each other during their encounters on the field. However, this was the first time they spoke at length. Klose mentioned that Messi promised to send him a signed Argentina jersey as a gesture of goodwill.

On June 23, after Messi scored his 17th World Cup goal in a match against Austria, Klose congratulated him. "Records are meant to be broken, and I am happy that it was Messi who did it. To me, he is the greatest player of all time," Klose stated.

Messi initially matched Klose's record with a hat-trick against Algeria in the opening match of the 2026 World Cup on June 17, before breaking it with a brace against Austria on June 23. Following Argentina's victory over Egypt in the Round of 16 on July 7, Messi's total World Cup goals reached 21, putting him at the forefront of the Golden Boot race with eight goals.

Klose previously held the record for the most goals in World Cup history with 16 goals across 24 matches, achieved over four tournaments from 2002 to 2014. He set this record in 2014, surpassing the previous mark of 15 goals held by Brazil's Ronaldo Nazário. Currently, Kylian Mbappé ranks second in the all-time list with 19 goals, while Harry Kane has 14 goals, tying with former German striker Gerd Müller.